Scorched
by snowtibbers
Summary: An act of true love can thaw a frozen heart. Healing a scorched body may take something more.
1. Chapter 1

The forest was quiet. It was just before dawn; the trees were usually alive with crickets and birdsong, while leaves on the forest floor rustled underfoot of deer and rodents, waking up with the sun to begin the day's foraging. But every animal in the vicinity had fled, leaving an eerie silence so deep that a momentary gentle breeze sounded like the onset of a terrible storm. The only creature making any noise at all was the girl, kneeling on the muddy ground, and she was crying.

Before her was a second, younger girl, who lay motionless in a heap of mud and ash. If she was breathing, it was too slight to be detectable; only a sudden involuntary twitch of her left hand, covered in blood and blackened flesh, signified that she was alive. Noticing this sign of vitality, the older girl jolted upright. She grabbed a few strands of her long, crimson hair, and tried to wipe the grime away from the child's lips. Then she did breathe – a weak, anguished breath, but a breath nonetheless. A brief expression of joy and relief flashed across the redhead's face, before she broke back down into tears.

A twig snapped from several feet away as the man approaching them stopped in his tracks. "My God, what have you done?" he murmured.

The girl choked back a sob. "It...it was an accident...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I would never..." She buried her face in her hands. "Please, she's still alive, you have to do something..."

The man strode over to them, kicking a charred stick out of his path. He knelt beside the unconscious child and spent several seconds examining her injuries. "Most of her torso is badly burned, obviously. But the burn appears to be quite shallow. I doubt there's any damage to her lungs or heart. If we can get her to medicine quickly, I think your sister will survive."

The redhead rose slowly to her feet, shaking so heavily that she could very well have fallen over at any moment. "Take her to the village. Help her. Please."

"Of course I'll help her." The man fixed his stare on the older girl and meaningfully extended his hand forward. "But right now, I'm just as concerned about helping you."

"No!" she cried, scurrying backward. "Don't come any closer, I don't want to hurt you too."

The man walked toward her undeterred. "You won't hurt me, Camilla. I've been around you long enough to know that you can control yourself when you put your mind to it."

Camilla shook her head violently, sending droplets of mud and tears flying in all directions. "How can you say that? Look at what I've done...I can't control it, I've spent every waking moment of my life trying to control it, I was so sure I could do it that I stopped wearing the gloves, and now...and now this..."

"You can," the man said, taking another step forward. "I've been worrying about you as of late. I always thought that the way that you tried to keep your powers at bay by pretending they didn't exist was counterproductive, to say the least. And it looks like I was right."

She opened her mouth a crack, but no words came out.

"But I have a plan, Camilla. I know a much different tactic to control your ability. And if you'll heed it, I'm confident that you can beat this curse once and for all."

Camilla took a deep, agonized breath. "I just...I just don't want to hurt any more people."

"You've done a terrible thing to your sister. But it was as accident, a momentary lapse in judgment. Put your trust in me, and I promise that this will be the last time you ever harm an innocent person." He strode up to her and outstretched his arm once again. "Do you trust me?"

She gingerly raised her hand to meet his, pressing two of her fingers against his palm. "Of course. Of course I trust you."

"Good." He smiled at her for a moment, then turned his gaze to the prostrate figure beside them. "We've got to get her down to the village. When she wakes up, she will be in a great deal of pain. I need you to gather as much snow as you can to keep her wounds iced."

Camilla was still visibly trembling, but she dutifully removed her shawl and began shoveling handfuls of snow and slush into it. That inexplicable winter storm in the middle of summer had ended several days before, but its remnants were still scattered about the ground in little piles, shielded from the blazing sun by the forest canopy. She then returned to the man, who was wrapping his coat around as much of child's burned body as he could.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to her unconscious sister. "I'm so, so sorry."

The man rose with the child cradled in his arms. "There will time for apologies later. Let's go."

They walked away, and the unnatural silence of the forest returned. The animals would creep back to the scene and resume their normal activity within a few hours, but it would be several summer rainfalls before the scorched earth on the forest floor was finally washed away.


	2. Chapter 2

"Time to wake up, Princess!"

Anna's eyes fluttered open. She instantly shut them again as the chamber's ambient light flooded her vision.

There was a second knock at the door. "Princess Anna, are you awake?"

"Yes, yes, wide awake!" She forced her eyelids open, pushed herself into a sitting position, and looked around. Something about her bedroom seemed a little...off. "What time is it?"

"Nine o'clock, ma'am. I apologize for not waking you earlier, but I know how much early mornings irk you."

"No, I love mornings!" she called. If it was only nine o'clock, why was it so _bright _in her room? She didn't usually get out of bed until close to eleven, and would probably sleep longer if the sunlight shining through the window didn't strike her in the face around that time. And even then, it was normally darker than this.

The voice behind the door cleared its throat. "Would you like any help getting ready, ma'am?"

"Oh no, I'm fine, thank you." She slid onto her feet, still squinting deeply. "Um, ready for what, again?"

"Frankly, ma'am, I'm not sure. But last night, you instructed me to wake you first thing in the morning, and I would hate to let you miss whatever engagement you've planned."

Why would Anna ask for such a thing? She _hated_ mornings!

She tried to think. No grand parties or events were being held that day, at least not that she could remember. There weren't any foreign dignitaries slated to arrive in Arendelle, and even if there were, she probably wouldn't have made it a point to wake up for their reception. And nothing eventful had happened the night before, except that she'd been too excited to go to sleep for a while, due to the torrential blizzard that had whipped up...

Anna bolted toward the window and flung the curtains open. The intense white light from outside blinded her once again. She rubbed her eyes furiously and gazed over the castle rooftops, normally a pleasant array of greens and blues, with the verdant forest stretching out in the background. But today, it was all stark white, covered with a deep layer of –

"Snow!" she cried out loud.

She was fully dressed before her eyes had time to correctly adjust to the light. Flinging the door open, she encountered a startled old man, whom she gave a lightning-quick embrace. "Thank you, Harald!" she yelled over her shoulder as she raced down the hall.

"Princess Anna, won't you be needing a coat, it's quite cold outside..." he said, rapidly falling out of earshot.

She'd been looking forward to this for months. The first true winter experience of her life had only lasted a few days, and she'd been too preoccupied with saving the world and not freezing to death and other sundry concerns to really take it in. Yet she had nothing but happy memories about it. The snow-covered mountain woods, the evergreen trees laden with scintillating icicles set around her in all directions, was one of the most beautiful things she'd seen in her entire life. And she loved snowballs; the idea that she could stop literally anywhere, scoop up a handful of powder, and instantly be holding a functional long-range missile, was fascinating to her. Yet the most wonderful, exhilarating experience of all was sledding. Anna loved moving quickly, and at no point before or after her ride in Kristoff's sled had she gone half as fast. And now Kristoff owned a top-of-the-line sled, engineered from the ground up for speed, and he'd promised to take her for a ride right after the first snowfall of winter.

She sprinted past the dining hall, which was filled with castle attendants serving themselves breakfast, a meal she'd slept through for two straight weeks. She'd be skipping it again, but for an entirely different reason. Kristoff usually left for the frozen mountain lakes first thing in the morning, and the sun had risen an hour ago. If she couldn't reach his house in time, the whole day would be ruined. Of course, he'd have to remove the wheels from his sled and rivet the skis back on, so that would buy her some time. And he wouldn't forget his promise, would he?

_No, _Anna thought. _Of course he wouldn't._

She slowed to a walk as she approached the double doors to the courtyard. She'd come to know Kristoff as just about the most thoughtful person she'd ever met, and he would never ditch her on something as important as this. And if he did, she would never let him hear the end of it. She leaned against the wooden door to catch her breath; the long sprint through the castle had left her quite winded. Part of her wished that she'd thought the situation through before burning half of her day's stamina for no reason.

After a few moments, she pushed the door open and stepped out into winter.

The chilly air struck her immediately, but she was so overcome by a warm feeling of excitement that it was canceled out. All around her was snow: snow glistening on every palisade and rooftop, snow blowing majestically through the air with every gust of wind, snow halfway up to her knees right where she stood. She'd had been outside in the winter every year, of course; it wasn't like she'd been locked in her bedroom her entire childhood. But unlike all those other years, the gates across the courtyard stood wide open, the whole of Arendelle's snowy expanse waiting for her. To Anna, it felt like the first real winter of her life.

She was gripped by a sudden, wild urge; it occurred to her that she had never properly played in the snow. Without any friends in her childhood, she'd never been in the mood. And she had memories of ice skating and snowball fights from many, many years ago, but she knew now that they were fake, manufactured by troll magic to erase any knowledge of her sister's powers. The fact that she had recollections of hours and hours of playtime that never actually happened was a bit strange, but it didn't bother her all that much. However, the thing that stood out most in those memories was how much fun they were, and she'd be damned if she wasn't going to try them out for real. Her plans with Kristoff could wait a few minutes. For what was probably the first time in her life, she was going to build a snowman.

"Well, aren't you the early bird this morning," said a voice behind her.

"You know me, I'm all about mornings." Anna grinned and turned to face her sister, striding effortlessly toward her through almost a foot of snow.

"You're lucky you're not the eldest, I don't think I've slept past eight in months." Elsa gestured across the snow-covered courtyard. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Anna nodded fervently. "It's wonderful. In fact, I doubt you could've done it any better yourself."

Elsa chuckled. "Let's just hope this winter is a little less...exciting...than the last one."

"Are you kidding? Last winter was perfect! If all this snow melts without any more evil princes or trade dignitaries coming to visit, I'm going to be – ooh." She shivered violently as an icy blast of wind struck her coat-less body.

Her sister gasped. "Goodness, Anna! What were you thinking, dressing like that in this kind of weather?"

"I'm sorry, I woke up really quickly and didn't have time to –" She was cut short as Elsa thrust her own coat into her arms. "Thank you so _much_." She began putting it on, then realized her sister was also wearing a simple green dress wholly unfit for winter, and without the coat, her forearms were completely exposed to the cold. "No, Elsa, you need this more than me, I can run up and grab one of my own."

Elsa shook her head. "I don't need it at all, actually. I really, really don't."

"Oh...right." Anna tossed the coat over her back and began buttoning up the front. "Wait, so why are you wearing a coat all of a sudden?"

Elsa shrugged. "I guess it just helps me fit in. Everyone knows what I'm capable of, obviously, but I want to be better known as the queen of Arendelle than as the queen of ice."

"I think you're really good at being both," Anna remarked. "But come on, why not let the queen of ice part show a little? It's winter again! You could even pull that magical blue ice-dress thing out of your wardrobe!"

"Oh, that melted the night I took it off," said Elsa. "My whole closet was _drenched_."

"So that's why you were wearing my dresses for three days!"

They both laughed. "I just wanted to step out to enjoy the weather," Elsa continued. "I need to go back inside; Arendelle citizens are going to be arriving soon. Will you be joining me for court today?"

"Sorry, I have plans," said Anna. "I promise I'll be around tomorrow."

"I'll see you later, then. Try to be back by dinner." They exchanged kind nods and headed off in opposite directions, Anna walking across the courtyard toward the castle gates.

She suddenly remembered what she'd been about to do before their conversation. "Hey, Elsa!" she shouted at her retreating sister. "Do you want to build a snowman?"

Elsa stopped dead in her tracks just as Anna realized what exactly she'd just asked.

"I mean, only if you really want to," she added hastily. "I know you're in a hurry and I don't want you to think you have to do it, just because...actually, forget about it, I really should be going anyway –"

"No, that's alright," said Elsa. Her voice was oddly uneven, and when she turned around her smile betrayed a hint of sadness, even regret. "Yes. Yes, I'd love to build a snowman with you."

Anna exhaled deeply. "Okay then." She fell silent again; for some reason she couldn't articulate, she was feeling quite awkward. "So...where should we do it?"

"Right where you are." Elsa walked toward her, and it was obvious from her hesitant footsteps that she felt just as uncomfortable as Anna. "How about I make the base, and you build the body and head?"

"Sounds good to me," Anna replied. She stooped down and started to roll a clump of snow into a ball, and was slightly taken aback as her sister did the same. "You've got magic to do this sort of thing, you know."

Elsa's stare was locked on the snow in front of her. "I'm not going to use my powers. We should both do this the normal way. I mean, that's obviously how you always imagined doing it, right?"

"Elsa, please, don't feel like you have to do this for me, you don't owe me anything..."

"I'm sorry." Elsa looked up with a somewhat forced smile. "You're right, we shouldn't do it like this. Let's start over." She straightened her posture and adopted her most regal tone. "Princess Anna, would you care to join me in the time-honored tradition of snowman building?"

"What? Oh, um...yes, I mean, yes, Your Majesty, I mean...yes."

Elsa laughed and turned back to her snowball. Anna did as well, grinning at the vastly reduced tension between them. They worked quietly for a minute or two; Anna soon had a sizable, well-rounded ball of powder she thought would do nicely as the snowman's midsection.

"You never did tell me where you were going today," Elsa remarked.

"Out with Kristoff," Anna responded. "He's finally getting to take his new sled out in the snow, and he promised I could be his first passenger."

Elsa furrowed her brow. "Be careful, alright? I know how fast Kristoff likes to go when he's sledding."

"I promise I will," said Anna, though she had to turn away to hide a quick involuntary grimace. It was nice having a big sister who looked out for her, but Elsa was sometimes so concerned for her well-being that she must think Anna couldn't think for herself at all. She patted down the last few rough edges on her snowball and looked over to check her sister's progress, only to behold an ugly, misshapen blob that more closely resembled a white sea urchin than a sphere.

"I'm not very good at this," Elsa sighed. "I actually don't think I've ever tried to make a snowball the normal way before."

"You can use magic if you want to. I really, honestly don't care."

Elsa shook her head. "Doing it this way is kind of fun. Besides, the last snowman I made came to life, and I think we can both agree that having one Olaf running around is quite enough."

"Sure is," Anna laughed. "Although the new one could keep us company until Olaf gets back in the spring. I still can't believe it; gone south on vacation for the _entire winter_, just to stay in warm weather. He's quite a character, isn't he?"

"You're right, he's got to be the weirdest talking snowman I've ever met." Elsa suddenly glanced up. "Good morning, Kai."

"Good morning, Your Majesty," said the plump elderly man standing in the doorway to the castle, apparently none too eager to step out into the cold. "I see you're settling into the winter spirit quite well."

"It isn't much of a stretch for me," Elsa joked. "So, who should I be expecting for today's court? I have to assume that this much snow is causing a lot of issues for the populace."

"Indeed it is," said Kai. "In particular, a group of merchants have requested an audience with you concerning finding an indoor venue for the town market until the ground clears up. Quite a few farmers will be coming as well; I assume they'll be looking for work during the winter months, as they do every year. Oh, and I'm afraid you'll have another meeting with the head of the Arendelle Ice Sculptors' Guild –"

Anna and Elsa groaned simultaneously.

"What could he want this time?" exclaimed Anna. "Wasn't he just here last week, asking for more subsidies on ice blocks or something?"

Elsa stared at her imploringly. "Are you sure you have to go out today? I don't know if I can handle another one-on-one with Gustav."

"I'm so sorry, Elsa. I promise I'll be there to help you out next time."

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Kai interrupted. "I must go make sure the Great Hall is prepared. Please come inside soon, Queen Elsa; people will be arriving any minute now. And have a wonderful day, Princess." He retreated back into the castle.

Anna was now holding a melon-sized ball of snow, perfect for the head. "So, you ready to put this thing together?"

Elsa winced visibly at her own handiwork. It was plenty big enough, but was more pyramidal than spherical at this point; she'd spent the past couple minutes shoveling fistfuls of powder in between the snowball and the ground to keep it from falling over. "Might as well. This thing certainly isn't getting any prettier."

She knelt down and lifted the midsection. It wasn't nearly so large that two people needed to carry it, but Anna nonetheless put her arms underneath it as well, and together they hoisted it onto the mound Elsa had created. It took a bit of packing, but they eventually had the two pieces firmly attached to one another. Elsa stooped over to pick up the head, and just like that, it was done.

"That wasn't so hard after all," Elsa commented as they stepped back to admire their work. The snowman stood perhaps four feet tall, though it would be much shorter had the bottom section been in any way ball-shaped. It had no arms, nor facial features of any kind, and the citizens of Arendelle walking through to court that day would probably have to take a second look just to recognize what it was supposed to be. But ugly as it was, it was there. And Anna was slowly realizing just what that meant.

_I did it. I finally built a snowman._

_...No, we built a snowman. We. Elsa and I._

And suddenly, for reasons she didn't understand, Anna felt very overwhelmed.

"Anna?" Her sister had evidently noticed some change in her demeanor. "How are you feeling?"

"I just..." Anna swallowed to clear the lump in her throat. "I just can't believe that it's finally over."

Elsa stood in silence, her mouth slightly agape.

"I've dreamed about building one of these since...forever." Anna could hear her voice wavering, and couldn't do anything to stop it. "I guess I could've done it anytime, but I really wanted to do it with _you_. But you just kept shutting me out, and I couldn't do anything but hope that someday you'd forgive me for whatever I'd done to you and we could be friends again. Of course, it's been months since..."

Reality came crashing down like a slap across the face. "It's been _months_! We've been together every single day since the summer! I'm so sorry Elsa, forget everything I just said, I know you weren't shutting me out on purpose, you had real actual problems to deal with, and I was just an immature brat whining about building a snowman..."

Her brain ran out of things to say. For several long seconds, they stared at one another, Anna feeling dumber with each passing moment.

Then Elsa took a step forward, and embraced her.

Anna was a bit taken by surprise, but she wrapped her arms around her sister as well. "Thank you. I'm really glad we did this."

"We'll do it again," said Elsa. "We can build a snowman every day this winter if you want."

They separated. Anna glanced back and forth between her sister and the newly born snow sculpture, feeling so warm inside that the frigid air seemed like a pleasant summer breeze. Then her gaze was drawn to the open gates, beyond which people were lining up to enter the castle, waiting to seek the Queen's audience at the day's court.

"I have to go." Elsa started retreating toward the door. "Have a good time with Kristoff. And be careful, alright?"

Anna nodded as Elsa turned her back and walked away. It wouldn't even bother her now if Kristoff had forgotten about the sled ride and taken off without her; building that snowman was completely worth it. She just might take Elsa up on making it a daily occurrence.

But snowman construction didn't really appeal to her competitive nature, she would almost prefer a snowball fight...

And before that thought had finished crossing her mind, she had scooped up a handful of snow, patted it into a sphere, and sent it arcing through the air toward her sister. It struck her squarely in the back of the head and splattered in all directions.

"Yes!" she cried with a pronounced fist pump. "Perfect shot!"

Elsa did not turn around. Anna's heart sank; her sisters' hands were hidden from view, but the ethereal blue light cast on the snow around her told Anna all she needed to know.

"So, you want to start a snowball war?" Elsa said in a toneless voice.

_That was a bad, bad idea._

"Um, Elsa, remember when you said how much fun it was to play in the snow without magic? Do you think we could stick with that –"

A second later, Anna was sprinting across the courtyard as dozens of watermelon-sized snowballs slammed into her from behind with nearly enough force to knock her over, gasping in enough air to scream "I surrender, I surrender, _I surrender_..."

She could hear Elsa's laughter all the way across the castle bridge.

* * *

Kristoff resided in a small, remote cabin, about a half hour walk from the main castle town. Anna was not a fan of his choice. It was certainly a step up from his home before they had met which, based on what he had told her about his life, didn't exist. And he was chock-full of justifications for his isolated dwelling, like his proximity to the frozen mountain lakes where he harvested his ice, or having unlimited grass for Sven to eat. But even Kristoff would admit that the main perk of living in seclusion was the seclusion itself; he just preferred to keep his distance from other people (except for Anna, as he was quick to mention whenever she brought it up). She was willing to put up with it for now. But since he'd obviously be moving into the castle sooner or later, he was going to have to get over his aversion to fellow human beings, whether he liked it or not.

Anna's spirits soared as she at last broke into meadow in the pine forest where Kristoff's house was situated, and was greeted by the sight of his sled, looking positively majestic in its natural snowy habitat. It had been mounted on cartwheels during the warmer months, allowing Kristoff to carry out his ice business through the summer. But now it stood on two long, wrought-iron skis, and seemed fully prepared to do just what Anna had originally selected it to do: go fast.

Sven was already roped to the sled in pulling position, and he bayed happily as Anna approached. She gave him a cheery smile, which quickly vanished as she realized that she had forgotten to take a carrot with her, an offering she brought the reindeer with such regularity that he had come to expect it. Sven seemed to sense the absence of his favorite snack, and his gleeful barking dropped into silence as he turned his head away in disgust.

"I'm sorry, buddy," Anna cooed. "I'll bring two carrots next time, I promise." She was met only with an annoyed grunt.

"Anna!" said a familiar voice. Kristoff stood in the doorway of his cabin in full winter garb, a mildly surprised expression on his face. "Fancy seeing you here in the morning."

Anna bounded to him across the snowy ground. "Thank you so much for waiting! I was afraid you'd leave without me."

"Leave without you?" Kristoff mused. "For what, may I ask?"

"Oh, come on!" said Anna impatiently. "The sled ride! The first one of winter!"

"Why would you come with me for – oh!" Kristoff ran a hand through his unkempt hair. "I'm sorry, Anna, I guess I forgot all about that. I was just about to head out to the ice fields for the day."

It took a moment for the implication of his words to sink in. "You mean...you're not taking me sledding?"

Kristoff smiled apologetically. "Believe it or not, the first snow of winter has a higher demand for ice than any other day of the year. I can't afford to take the day off to go on a joyride."

"But you _promised_!" said Anna, almost whimpering. Her plan for the day, her glorious mansion she'd built out of her own expectations, was crumbling to pieces right in front of her. "I'll tell you what: paid vacation! Take the day off work, and Arendelle will reimburse you for all the ice you would've sold."

"You know you can't actually do that, right?"

"I'm a princess, can't I do whatever I want?"

Kristoff shook his head sorrowfully. "Only the king or queen gets that kind of absolute power. And if Elsa gave you control over the royal treasury, I'm setting sail for the Southern Isles first thing tomorrow morning."

There was a witty retort somewhere in Anna's brain, but it was swallowed by the feeling of utter dejection that was descending upon her. Kristoff wasn't lying. Their sled ride together was actually canceled.

"Can I at least go with you to the lakes?" she ventured.

Kristoff began to walk toward the sled behind her, brushing against her shoulder as he passed. "I'm afraid not," he said, his voice strangely flat and emotionless. "Trust me, it's actually incredibly boring. And I won't know how long I'll be out until I see how thick the ice is and if there's any competition and whatnot. I could be gone all night."

Anna hung her head helplessly. She should have been furious with him, but the sadness inside her was so great that it smothered her anger completely. "I understand. Your job has to come first. I guess I'll see you –"

The air was knocked straight out of her stomach as Kristoff grabbed her from behind and started carrying her over his shoulder. "I can't believe you fell for all that! I was sure the bit about the highest ice sales of the year being on the first snow day would tip you off. Why would anybody ever pay for ice in this kind of weather?"

Anna blinked several times in rapid succession, the realization that she'd been duped slowly dawning on her. "Kristoff!" she snapped, not sounding nearly as upset as she meant to. "That was so _mean_!"

Kristoff laughed heartily as he deposited her onto the ornate driver's bench atop the sled and settled in beside her. "You deserve it, you know. I've been waiting here for hours for you to show up. I guess I should know by now that _first thing in the morning_ has a different meaning for you." He grasped the reins in his hands, and Sven began pawing the ground in anticipation. "Are you ready to go fast?"

Inside Anna was a swirling storm of excitement, confusion, and indignation, and somehow the prevailing emotion was pure, childlike joy. She nodded vigorously, unable to come up with the words to describe just how ready she was.

"Then let's do this!" said Kristoff. Sven seemed to need no further instruction, and with a lurch so violent that it almost threw Anna backward off the sled, they were off.

The last and only time they had been sledding together was during Elsa's artificial winter. Anna recalled the experience as some of the most fun she'd ever had. However, that had been with Kristoff's old sled, which now lay in splinters at the bottom of a cliff somewhere in the mountains. Anna had insisted to Elsa that they replace it with the highest quality vehicle available, mostly to reward him for his service to the royal family, but also because Anna was excited to find out just how fast they could get one of these things going. Now, as they reached the top of a gargantuan hill and began to accelerate downward, she began to regret that decision. She wasn't excited at all; she was terrified.

From what Anna remembered, the older sled had tossed up quite a flurry all around it as it tore through the snow. Not so with this one. The skis cut through the snow cover like a knife through butter, offering next to no friction to slow the descent; the ground might as well have been a sheet of ice. The sled soon reached the point where they no longer had any control at all, and just kept going faster and faster, until Sven was no longer pulling them and was galloping at top speed just to avoid being run over. It would only take one unfortunately placed pine tree to turn this into the final sledding adventure of their lives. Anna's mouth was wide open, and she might have been screaming, though she couldn't hear herself over the wind ripping past her ears. She found that her arms had wrapped themselves tightly around Kristoff, who seemed rather nervous himself. He ignored her, his attention fixated on issuing Sven futile commands through the reins, trying to regain some semblance of control...

Then the hill bottomed out and curved upward, and the sled threw up a magnificent deluge of snow that completely blinded them for a few seconds. Anna felt her seat jerk backward as the ropes connecting Sven to the sled finally went taut again. She released Kristoff and leaned back in her chair, basking in the feeling of relief that swept over her. Then suddenly, she was laughing uncontrollably. That had been _amazing_. It didn't matter how dangerous it was; she hadn't felt this exhilarated since the time she'd fallen two hundred feet off a cliff. And Anna figured she must have some serious self-destructive tendencies, because these experiences were some of the best fun she'd ever had.

"Well then," gasped Kristoff. "I'm thinking we shouldn't try to take a hill like that again."

"Definitely," Anna agreed. She secretly hoped he would go back on that promise before the day was over.

They kept to a more reasonable pace after that, though still fast enough that Elsa would likely have a panic attack if she had been watching. The duo passed through sprawling woods and snow-covered meadows, across rivers and over small mountains, Kristoff pointing out various interesting landmarks as they sped by. Anna began to realize how little of her own kingdom she had actually seen. It had been months since she'd been confined to the castle, and in that time she'd been too busy exploring the surrounding town to venture far out into the wilderness. In addition, she knew that there was a plethora of cities and villages spread across Arendelle, filled with farmers, fishermen, and all sorts of other people. Given enough time, she wanted to see everything.

"I've probably said this before," Kristoff mentioned as they traveled through a bit of nondescript forest, "but thanks for the sled."

Anna dismissed him with a hand wave. "I totally only got it for you so that I could ride in it."

"I don't care why you got it, this thing is incredible. And not just because because of the speed. There's way more cargo room back there than I used to have; I feel like I can carry twice as much ice at once. And it's _fireproof!_ Can you believe that they fireproofed a wooden sled? I have literally built a fire right where you're sitting, and it didn't leave so much as a scorch mark. Not to mention the cupholder, you wouldn't believe the lengths I had to go to before to keep my drink from spilling."

"Well, I'm very glad you like it," Anna chuckled. "Hopefully that means you'll feel obligated to take me out on it more often?"

"Whenever you want," said Kristoff. "There's all kinds of cool stuff around Arendelle I need to show you. Actually, we should take a couple days sometime and visit your sister's old stomping grounds up on the North Mountain. I've been itching to get another look at that ice palace."

Anna frowned. "I'd love to. But I don't think Elsa would let me go to such a dangerous area, what with all the cliffs and wild animals and stuff. She gets really protective when she thinks I'm getting myself into trouble."

"She's not very good at being overly protective if she lets you hang out with me," Kristoff remarked.

"I try not to tell her too much about you," Anna laughed. "But seriously, she gets on my nerves sometimes. It's like she thinks I can't take care of myself, and that it's her duty to protect me from every little thing that might hurt me."

Kristoff shrugged. "I can see why she feels that way. She spent her whole childhood locked in her own room just to keep herself from harming you, and it'd all be a terrible waste if you went and got yourself hurt by doing something stupid. You're not completely safe from her even now...like, you could accidentally eat some of her poisonous ice and die."

"Be that as it may, I still think that...wait, what?!" She stared incredulously at Kristoff. "What's this about poisonous ice?"

"Her ice is poisonous, isn't it? That's why she doesn't give it out all the people of Arendelle for free."

"No, she doesn't do that because she'd be competing with ice harvesters like you, which would be totally unfair because..." She noticed the look of horror on Kristoff's face. "Um...is something wrong?"

"Elsa and I talked about this some time ago," said Kristoff, his voice level and monotone. "I assumed that having a new queen who could summon unlimited amounts of ice at will would obsolete Arendelle's ice harvesters, and I wanted her help with finding us a new function. She assured me that her magical ice was wholly unfit for human consumption, and therefore our profession was still necessary to Arendelle society and we could continue our work uninterrupted."

"That's absolutely absurd! I can't believe Elsa would tell a lie like that! She only lies to people when it's for their own good, like if she wants to spare them from learning a hard truth, so unless she thought you'd be really upset that she could easily be doing your job for you – oh." It was plainly obvious from Kristoff's expression that that was _exactly_ why Elsa had lied to him. "Yeah, that actually makes a lot of sense..."

Her voice trailed off into an awkward silence. She forced a cheerful smile, which quickly crumbled under Kristoff's stern gaze.

"So, how much magic ice do you eat?" he asked flatly.

"Oh...well...not much," Anna blustered. "Just a little here and there. She can make it into cubes to cool down drinks and such. Oh, and sometimes she uses it to make ice cream! You really need to try her ice cream, it's..." She snapped her mouth shut.

"Her ice cream is...good?" Kristoff pressed.

"It's..." Anna wanted to lie, but she'd said too much already, and she was a terrible liar anyway. "It's the best ice cream I've ever had."

Kristoff looked away with an exasperated groan.

"Oh, come on!" Anna protested. "So Elsa could technically be providing Arendelle's ice instead of you. Is it really such a big deal?"

"Yes!" snapped Kristoff. "I just found out that my job only exists because the Queen takes pity on me, and the only thing I have to show for it is that the people of Arendelle don't get to eat the most delicious ice cream the world has ever seen!"

"It's not your fault. I mean, it's not like you could have known that your ruler would be an all-powerful goddess of ice when you chose your profession in the first place..."

Kristoff buried his face in his hands. "My life is so pointless," he muttered.

They sat in glum silence for a while. Anna's brain was furiously trying to come up with some clever comment to cheer him up, and unable to find anything, she decided to try something simpler. She laid her head sideways on Kristoff's shoulder, her braid flopping across his chest. "You're not pointless to me."

Kristoff said nothing. That usually meant he was content.

The sledding adventure continued. Kristoff's consternation over his ice business eventually dissipated, and they bantered back and forth over various topics as the beautiful Arendelle landscape sped past. He continued to point out interesting tidbits about their surroundings, including the alarmingly high number of trees he'd slept under at least once, back before he had a home. It was extremely fortunate that he'd run into Anna that day in the wilderness shop; otherwise, he'd probably still be sleeping outside every night. Anna was even luckier, however. Without him, she'd be married to a heartless prince who would have doted on her only until he became the king, then tossed her aside like an overused tool. She felt she owed him more than he could ever owe her.

Before she knew it, the sun was well past its zenith and the day was progressing into afternoon. Her stomach's unhappy growling reminded her that she hadn't eaten so much as a morsel since dinner the day before. Luckily, Kristoff had done much better planning than her, and had a packed lunch waiting in the back of the sled. And he said he knew the perfect place for them to stop and eat it.

A while later, he told Sven to halt in a small clearing next to a cliff, and Anna was immediately glad they had waited the extra few minutes to get here. The precipice dropped off sharply to the snowy forest hundreds of feet below, and beyond that lay a bird's-eye view of the entire capitol of Arendelle. It seemed so small to her from up here, at least for a town where she'd spent practically every day of her life. Nonetheless, the view was breathtaking.

Lunch consisted of a few simple sandwiches Kristoff had made that morning, as well as a bag of carrots for Sven. Anna sprawled out nonchalantly on the sled bench as she ate, while Kristoff stood by his reindeer, feeding him a generous number of carrots and even bits of his own meal. She couldn't help but grin even as she chewed on large hunks of bread; so far, she couldn't imagine the day going any more perfectly than this.

"I'm serious about that whole job thing," Kristoff mentioned in between bites. "I don't want to keep selling people ice if Elsa could be creating it for free. There's got to be another way for me to make a living."

Anna thought for a moment. "Maybe you could start up a taxi service? You can probably get from place to place in this thing faster than anyone else in Arendelle. Or you could charge people for sled rides; I know I'd pay for a trip like this."

"Not bad ideas," said Kristoff. "But the deal breaker is that for either of those, I'd have to deal with people every moment I'm on the job. The only person besides me who gets to sit in this sled is you."

"Oh, you'll loosen up on that eventually. For one, our kids are probably going to want rides all the time."

"Oh Lord." Kristoff put his hands on his temples. "I am _so _not ready to imagine what our kids would be like."

"I know, right?" said Anna. "The thought of a bunch of little Kristoffs running around scares me too. They'd be so terrified of human contact that they wouldn't even talk to each –" She winced as a carrot bounced off her forehead and landed in the seat beside her. "Hey!" she shouted indignantly, picking it up and throwing it back at her laughing boyfriend.

Only as the carrot left her hand did she realize that she had thrown it _way _harder than she'd intended. Kristoff's eyes shot open in surprise as he jumped to the side. The carrot rocketed past his head, bounced off the snow twice, and came to a stop just before rolling over the edge of the cliff.

"I'm sorry!" gasped a distraught Anna. She jumped to her feet and dashed off to retrieve the missile.

"It's alright, I'm fine," Kristoff grumbled as she ran past him. "No, leave the carrot, there's no point in risking your neck for a single...Anna, stop!"

"I swear I didn't mean to throw it so hard!" Anna shouted as she neared the cliff. "You know me, sometimes I do things without thinking them through first, and I know I really should –"

The snow beneath her feet was suddenly supplanted by ice. She slipped in spectacular fashion, her legs flying out in front of her and landing squarely on her bottom. She could feel her face turning as red as her hair. If there was any way she could have humiliated herself more in the last few moments, she couldn't think of it.

Then she began to slide.

She attempted to dig her hands into the ground, but her fingers found nothing but solid ice. It seemed to extend around her in all directions, right up to the precipice just a few feet in front of her. Embarrassment turned into panic as she found herself clawing wildly at the rock-hard ice, flipping onto her stomach to slow herself as much as possible, yet she kept slipping inexorably backward, and she realized with a gut-wrenching jolt that there was nothing beneath her legs but air...

A gloved hand was thrust in front of her face. She grabbed it and held on with all her strength, just as her lower body slid over the edge. Kristoff lay completely prostrate, unable to pull her to safety; any tiny movement on his part would probably send them both tumbling into the abyss. She locked eyes with him, too terrified to move a muscle, or shout out a word of encouragement, or think about anything except how scared she was.

And suddenly an enormous, deer-shaped figure stood atop the ledge, and Kristoff let out a yelp of surprise as Sven bit into the toe of his boot. Anna squeezed his hand harder than ever as the two of them were pulled upward and back onto solid, snow-covered ground.

She lay still for a while, panting heavily as she waited for her pounding heart to settle down. "Good boy, Sven," she said eventually, heaving herself into a sitting position. She turned to say something lighthearted to Kristoff, but the livid stare he fixed on her shoved the words right back down her windpipe.

"What were you _thinking_?!"

"I...I don't know." Anna swallowed hard. "It just seemed wrong to let the carrot go to waste, especially after throwing it at you, I should've realized it might be dangerous to –"

"It _might _be dangerous? You almost got killed!"

"Oh come on, it's not like this would be the first time I've fallen off a cliff." The panic was still lingering in Anna's mind, but she forced a weak grin.

Kristoff was not smiling back. "We only survived that because we fell into the biggest snowbank I've ever seen. Down there, there's maybe a foot of snow between you and the frozen ground. You would have _died_."

Anna had no clever response to that. "I'm sorry. I was being stupid and careless."

Kristoff finally broke off his scalding stare and looked off to the side. "You just need to think things through before you do them, you know? I love you to death for being a free spirit, but doing mindless stuff like that is going to get you in a lot of trouble."

Neither of them said anything for a while. Anna was usually an expert at alleviating awkward situations, but this silence was so stifling that it could have snuffed out an open flame.

"Kristoff?" said eventually. "Could you not tell Elsa about this? She gets really upset when she thinks I'm doing something dangerous."

"Sounds like she'd give you a well-deserved scolding," Kristoff muttered.

"Please Kristoff, she's absolutely crazy about stuff like this, she'll never let me leave the castle again..."

"Anna, I talk with your sister maybe once a month, why would I approach her just to tattle on you?" He wistfully rubbed the gaping bite marks in his boot. "Though if I did tell her, I could probably get a new pair of shoes out of it."

Anna giggled. She wasn't entirely sure whether or not that was intended to be a joke, but she was ready to jump at anything to break the awkward tension. "So, you ready to get back on the road?"

Kristoff hesitated for a moment. "That was about all the excitement I can handle for one day. We really should head back."

Anna nodded glumly. Disappointed as she was, she couldn't really argue with that.

"But..." At long last, there was a hint of a smile on Kristoff's face. "There's no reason we can't go as fast as possible on the way, and I may have forgotten how to get back to my cabin, so we might have to take a long, circuitous route to get there."

"Yes!" shouted Anna. A fresh wave of excitement washed away the lingering uneasiness of her near-death experience as she hopped back into the sled. Sven grunted with enthusiasm and leaped into action, and they were off once again, plowing at breakneck speeds through the glistening snow, their winter adventure only halfway completed.

* * *

A glorious sunset to the west crowned the Castle of Arendelle like a multicolored halo as Anna approached the castle gates.

Sven had finally had enough of constant galloping by around three o'clock, and the rest of the return trip to Kristoff's cabin had been at a leisurely pace. By the time they arrived, Anna's thirst for sledding had been completely sated, and had walked the rest of the distance back to the castle by herself. She'd told Kristoff that she hoped the ride would never end, but that was simply a pleasantry and not even close to being true; she was exhausted, and cold, and so hungry that she'd considered swiping Sven's bag of carrots to munch on during her walk. Dinner was the only thing on her mind as she stepped onto the castle bridge.

She noticed a small group of people approaching her out of the corner of her eye. "Princess Anna?" said one of them.

"Hello!" Anna turned to smile at the group. Being a Princess of Arendelle, she was used to droves of people eager to talk to her, just so they could tell their friends who they'd met that day. She didn't mind it when this happened. It came with the territory of being royalty, and the fact that she could put a cheerful smile on someone's face just by sharing a few words with them felt very empowering. But her grin faltered as she realized that the three people in front of her were neither cheerful nor smiling.

"Does Queen Elsa live here?" asked the man among them, a very tall fellow with a head of short blonde hair.

"Um...yes," Anna replied, somewhat taken aback. That was the silliest question she'd heard in quite a while.

The man nodded thoughtfully. "We need to speak with her."

"I see." Anna began to feel rather uneasy; the two women flanking him had been staring wordlessly at her since the moment she'd noticed them. One was a young brunette girl, who wore a coat so ludicrously large on her that it completely obscured any hint of her figure. Her left arm must have been wrapped up somewhere inside it, because the coat sleeve hung limply at her side. The other appeared to be around Anna's age, with a very pale complexion and fiery red hair. "Elsa holds court most days, which is where she listens to the complaints that Arendelle citizens have. So if you want to come back tomorrow –"

"No," said the man. "This is not the sort of problem that you will be prepared to field at your court. We need to speak to the Queen in private."

Anna took an involuntary step backward; she became more nervous by the second. The man hadn't threatened her, but the combination of his height and authoritative tone made him extremely intimidating. However, it was the redhead that discomforted her the most. Her cold, unblinking stare made her wish very hard that she was back inside the castle.

"I'm sorry." The man seemed to have noticed her uneasiness. "We did not mean to scare you. Yes, it was wrong of us to approach you about this. We will find another way to seek audience with the Queen. Thank you for your time."

"Yes, uh, thank you," said Anna. She turned on her heel and quickly walked away across the bridge. The encounter had been nerve-wracking enough to heighten her pulse considerably. She didn't know if those people were from the castle town, or if they were even from Arendelle at all, but she found herself hoping that their mission to speak with Elsa would fail and she wouldn't see them again.

The group behind her did not move. She could feel their gaze following her all the way up to the castle gates.


	3. Chapter 3

Prior to the previous summer, Elsa had never thought much about what it would be like when she became Queen.

That wasn't to say she hadn't realized that her coronation would change her life. Indeed, she'd dreaded the arrival of her twenty-first birthday ever since her parents' death, for on that day she would come of age, and would be compelled to assume her title as Queen of Arendelle. Yet she'd been unable to even appear before the people, let alone rule them, because any tiny surge of emotion could have revealed her secret magic to everyone. Her mind had been clouded by anxiety about her impending Queenship for years. However, she hadn't ever considered the actual duties and responsibilities entailed by her royal birthright. To her, that was secondary to the pervasive terror that she would never be able to suppress her powers well enough to even show her face outside the castle.

But those fearful days were behind her. All the people of Arendelle now knew about her powers, and they embraced her as a symbol of pride, something that made their kingdom truly unique. Elsa's magic was at last under her control; she could stand before her subjects and wave cheerily without fearing that an icicle would shoot out of her hand and skewer some hapless fellow in the crowd. Now she was beset by a whole new series of burdens. Her rule had thus far lasted for nearly six months, and she finally understood what it was actually like to be the Queen.

In a word, it was tedious.

At this moment, she was situated in the Great Hall of Arendelle castle, several hours into the royal court that she held four times every week. She was seated at the head of the room on her throne, an ornately carved wooden chair with enough plush padding to keep her comfortable, though it induced some rather fierce itching during the warmer months. The smaller, less luxurious seat to her left, normally occupied by her sister, stood empty for the time being. There were perhaps twenty other people present in the room: dignitaries, guards, attendants, and members of the Arendelle elite willing to brave the intense boredom of the court just to be near the Queen. And in the middle of it all, two men were engaged in a bitter argument over whether one of them had the right to run a competing snow-shoveling business within the castle town.

Elsa sighed as the debate grew more and more heated. There were existing laws protecting the ability of Arendelle citizens to participate in any type of commerce they wished; it had been clear from the outset that the first man had no right to stop the other from operating his own private business. Any legal scholar could have resolved the issue in a heartbeat. But because it involved two semi-large businesses, the owners were entitled to bring the disagreement before the Queen herself. The court existed for Elsa to give a final, irrevocable verdict on these sorts of disputes.

It was an important job, and one that she took very seriously. But she often wondered whether it was really necessary for the more trivial arguments to be settled by the highest authority in the land. She didn't even have any real say in the decision; if she ruled against the established law, the loser would raise a ruckus about her incompetence and abuse of power and whatnot. The court was a longstanding Arendelle tradition, however, and Elsa didn't want to disrupt it so early into her Queenship, especially given that it had been on hiatus for three years while the kingdom was without a ruler. She just wished it didn't sap up so much of her time. Between holding court, throwing parties, managing the affairs of the castle, receiving foreign dignitaries, and making public appearances for her subjects, it was a wonder she ever got a free moment to herself.

But on the whole, she was content in her new role. Even though some of the cases that came to her in court were trifling spats between irate businessmen, many others were real, actual problems that needed real, actual solutions. Just earlier that day, she had arranged for a group of farmers caught off guard by the sudden blizzard to work on the naval docks until their fields were ready for planting; without her help, they likely would have starved. She loved having the power to help people in need, and she indulged the thought that few others had the foresight to make these decisions without severely impacting other aspects of the kingdom. Anna, for example, would probably grant full pensions to anyone whose source of income was marginally interrupted, and Arendelle would be bankrupt within a month. _Somebody_ had to be the Queen, and even though Elsa had only achieved the title by birthright, she thought she was doing a fine job of it.

"You even stole half of my workers for your own business, you crook!" snapped one of the snow-shoveling entrepreneurs.

"I _stole _them?!" said the other incredulously. "Your employees all quit because you only pay them when you haven't blown their salaries on your gambling addiction!"

"Don't you talk to me about addictions, Mister Five-bottles-of-rum-per-week."

"Why, you little..."

Elsa had heard enough. She loudly cleared her throat, and both men instantly fell silent.

"The law on these matters is clear." She spoke in a low, regal tone that she had been actively developing since her coronation. "A citizen of Arendelle may seek to make a living through whatever means he desires. Mister Edstrom has every right to found his own snow removal company, regardless of the existence of a competing business. So unless he has engaged in illegal activity to hamper your own business conduct, Mister Borreson, then I must dismiss your complaint and allow him to continue as he wishes. I hope that both of your businesses will flourish alongside one another."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Edstrom bowed to her and turned to grin smugly at his opponent. Borreson's face was red with pent-up anger, but he bit his upper lip, bowed as well, and walked stiffly out of the hall.

Elsa felt an unpleasant lurch in her stomach as they left. It was all too often that two men would come to court with a deeply rooted dispute, bicker furiously to the point of coming to blows, and then be immediately cowed by her verdict. She almost wished that some of them would argue against her decision, or even ignore it completely, because she didn't like what this passiveness said about what her subjects thought of their Queen.

Anna always told her that it was because she was respected. Elsa worried that it was because she was feared.

And why wouldn't they fear her? She was their ruler; although she would never dream of abusing her power, she had the capacity to have anyone in the kingdom executed just for looking at her the wrong way. But beyond that, they knew about her magic. They had seen her conjure deadly shards of ice out of thin air, and plunge Arendelle into a fierce winter of her own making, and nearly freeze her own sister to death, just because she couldn't restrain her curse when she got angry or upset. Of course, she had complete control over her powers by now, and her subjects seemed to accept that. They admired her ice sculptures, and frolicked on the impromptu ice skating rinks she created from time to time. But how could they know that she wasn't one angry outburst away from losing control again? Elsa always put her utmost attention into seeming as cool and collected as possible, trying to convince the people that she posed no threat to them. Still, she worried that it wasn't enough.

The door to the Great Hall swung open as the snow-shoveling businessmen departed, and Elsa heard the rabble of the men and women in the foyer, waiting to seek her audience. But before any of them could enter, the doorway was blocked by the captain of the castle guard, a short, burly man with a jeweled sword hanging at his side.

"The Queen is taking a break," he stated commandingly. "The court will resume in several minutes." He pushed the door shut, muffling the protests that erupted from the hallway.

"Thank you, Baldur," said Elsa. She was indeed feeling weary; the court had continued uninterrupted since that morning, and the growling in her stomach told her that they were well into the afternoon. She would not be breaking for lunch, however. Court days were always too busy to fit in a meal hour, and Elsa had learned that a large breakfast and hearty dinner were enough to carry her through the day. She relaxed her regal pose and sprawled out in her throne, hoping to make the most her few minutes of leisure.

An attendant approached her from the left. "Hot chocolate, Your Majesty?" she asked, presenting a steaming blue mug.

"Yes, thank you," said Elsa gratefully. She accepted the mug and swirled the contents a few times, watching the half-melted marshmallows bob around like driftwood in a stormy ocean. This was one of the few traditions she had broken during her short reign as Queen. She was told that Arendelle royalty customarily drank tea, and the castle pantry was bursting with exotic, luxurious brews for her to select from. But her love for chocolate was too strong. It was one thing to endure hours of bickering in the court for the sake of tradition, but if she couldn't even enjoy a cup of hot chocolate, then what was the point of being Queen at all?

She pressed the mug to her lips, and jerked it away as a drop of the searing liquid entered her mouth, burning her tongue instantly. The name of the beverage obviously entailed some amount of heat, but this was too hot to even consider drinking. And if she waited for it to cool by itself, it would probably still be undrinkable when the guards reopened the door and the court resumed.

So she made some ice.

If someone were to ask her _how _exactly she conjured ice from nothing, Elsa would not be able to answer. To her, it was just like running, or reciting the alphabet, or any other immensely intricate task that people did without thinking about it in the slightest. She simply stretched out her hand, imagined whatever it was she wanted to do or create, and the ice flowed forth. Her abilities had been beyond her control for most of her life, and would wildly burst outward whenever she felt upset or scared. But for a reason she did not understand even to this day, ever since Anna had sacrificed herself to save her from Prince Hans, Elsa's powers had never slipped out of her control again, only showing themselves when she called upon them. Still, she had no concept of where her magic actually came from, nor could she explain it to anyone else. The only feeling she would be able to relate was the warm, tingling sensation that stretched from her chest to her hands whenever she used her powers.

The newly born ice cube dropped into the mug and dissolved almost immediately. Elsa cautiously brought it to her lips once again; the cocoa was still piping hot, but didn't scald her tongue as it trickled down her throat. She took a long, slow sip, and as she lowered the mug, she was slightly startled to find the captain of the guard standing before her.

"How are you today, my Queen?" he asked.

"I'm doing well," Elsa replied. "A little tired, but that's no surprise after solving peoples' problems all day."

"That it isn't," said Baldur. "I apologize for disturbing you during your break, but if it isn't too much trouble, I have a problem of my own that I'd like to share with you."

"No trouble at all." Elsa straightened her posture and assumed her regal voice. "Does this concern your duties as captain of the castle guard, or those as commander of the Arendelle military forces?"

Baldur remained stoic, but his right hand jerked slightly in a way that Elsa interpreted as a nervous twitch. "Actually, my issue is that you need to ask me that question."

Elsa blinked. "I'm afraid I don't follow."

"I'm the only man in Arendelle history to hold both of those positions at once," Baldur explained. "Traditionally, they are both highly important roles that both require a huge investment of time and resources. But with the funds I've been allocated, I'm all but unable to maintain a standing military force outside of the castle guard. I'm concerned that..." He closed his mouth, apparently searching for the right words to complete his sentence.

"You think I'm neglecting the defense of our kingdom," Elsa finished.

"I don't blame you for it," said Baldur quickly. "After all, we've had peace in Arendelle for over thirty years; you've never experienced a time of war, and I deeply hope you never have to. But I have seen firsthand how quickly peace can disintegrate into chaos. We could gain an enemy with little or no warning. And if that day comes, we need to be ready."

He was right. Elsa's first responsibility as Queen had been to mete out resources to the various functions of her government, and the budget for the military forces had been outright gutted. But she'd done that for a reason; as Baldur said, it had been decades since Arendelle had needed its army, and given how popular the kingdom was among its neighbors, it seemed like that trend was going to continue. "I understand your concern. I just don't agree that it's worth spending a great deal on our military during times of peace. If we were to be faced with an enemy, I assure you that my first priority would be the defense of the kingdom."

"But at that point, it may be too late!" Baldur retorted. "An invasion can spring up from nothing in a matter of days. And I'm especially worried about our utter lack of a naval force, especially since our capitol is accessible from the sea. An enemy fleet could attack this city at any time, and we would have no means of preventing it."

Elsa shook her head. "The only way to approach Arendelle by land is over the Aldin mountain range. It would take an army weeks to cross them, and they would have to leave any heavy artillery behind. And as for the risk of a naval invasion...I don't think the kingdom needs to worry about that anymore."

"What do you mean by that?" said a perplexed Baldur.

Elsa extended her arm that was holding the mug, still mostly filled with hot chocolate. She reached forward with her free hand, stuck out her index finger, and dipped it into the cocoa.

Baldur pursed his lips together as the surface of the hot liquid froze solid, leaving the remaining marshmallows immobilized in a sheet of brown, murky ice. "I...I see. I'd actually forgotten about how you froze the fjord all those months ago. But in a time of crisis, would you really be capable of doing that again?"

"I would," Elsa replied. "I've learned to control myself since then, which is why you haven't seen any enormous surges of magic recently. But rest assured that my powers are are still as strong as ever, and I wouldn't hesitate to use them if the safety of Arendelle depended on it. I'm happy that you voiced your concerns to me, and I think you're a wonderful job as captain of the guard, but if you wish to request additional resources for the military, then my answer is no."

Baldur was clearly disappointed, and for a moment it appeared as if he was going to protest. But he responded only with a respectful nod. "I understand."

Elsa returned the nod. "Thank you again for the break; I feel much better now. You may call the next group into court when you're ready."

"As you wish, my Queen." Baldur turned his back and walked toward the other end of the room.

Elsa found herself smiling as the captain opened the door and announced that the court was resuming. Even though her few minutes of solace had been interrupted by yet another issue, she felt oddly refreshed. Baldur had been the only man that day to have any kind of serious debate with her, and to not back down instantly when she announced her decision. It was good to know that there was at least one person in Arendelle who definitely wasn't afraid of her, even if he happened to be the commander of the military. The only regret she had was that she had ruined a perfectly good mug of hot chocolate to make a point. Her spirits were high as a man stepped through the doorway and into the Great Hall.

Then they sank as she realized who that man was.

"Hello, Gustav," she said glumly.

"My Queen." The head of the Arendelle Ice Sculptors' Guild bowed curtly and strutted to the center of the room. His thin, wiry frame contrasted bizarrely with his deeply lined face and long brown beard. Due to his outrageous appearance, several longtime members of the court had suggested that he be hired on as a jester. Elsa thought that his extraordinary capacity for annoyance might have military applications.

"What brings you here today?" she asked, making only a marginal effort to conceal her dismay at his arrival.

Gustav stuck his chin forward as a gesture of resoluteness, though it only served to make him look sillier. "I have come to request your final approval for a sculpting project."

"What approval could you possibly need?" said Elsa. "I've already given you full control over the display and sale of ice artwork throughout the kingdom. I can hardly bring my own creations outside the castle walls without violating the provisions I've set in place for you. Short of funding your entire project directly from the treasury, I can't imagine what you would require of me."

"Very true," Gustav acknowledged. "But my presence here has nothing to do with money. I plan on embarking on a project of a very...unique nature."

Elsa sighed. "Very well. State your request."

Gustav straightened his posture and clasped his hands in front of him, as though preparing to recite a well-rehearsed speech. "As you know, the ice sculptors of this kingdom have suffered a great deal of financial hardship since your own abilities were revealed. But perhaps even more potent is the blow that has been dealt to their pride. The knowledge that their Queen is capable of matching their collective efforts with a mere wave of her hand is devastating. And as the president of the Arendelle Ice Sculptors' Guild –"

"Consisting of exactly one company, that being your own –" Elsa interjected.

"...It is my duty to ensure the well-being of the artists I represent," Gustav continued undeterred. "To that end, in order to restore my sculptors' faith in their abilities, I have devised a new ice creation so innovative that even you could not duplicate it."

"And what might that be?" Elsa queried.

"A fountain. A beautiful fountain carved entirely from ice, with a magnificent geyser of water to rival any other display, and the capability of running throughout the winter when all other fountains cease to operate."

Elsa blinked several times, unable to believe what she'd just heard. "That's..." _Impossible. Absurd. Something only your insane mind could come up with._

"Of course, this would not normally require your approval," said Gustav. "But I am of the opinion that a project this ambitious should be placed in as visible a location as possible. In addition, ice has become a revered symbol of the kingdom since your coronation, and I believe this fountain would bolster the pride of all of Arendelle. I therefore request that this creation be built in the primary meeting point of this town: the castle courtyard."

Elsa's brain immediately screamed at her to say no. However, experience had taught her that saying no to Gustav was too difficult to be worth it. This was hardly the most outlandish of Gustav's demands; he had already convinced her to grant him universal rights over the sale of any type of ice artistry throughout the kingdom. Although she often began by flatly rejecting his requests, through a combination of making deals, cajoling, and guilt tripping, he always seemed to get his way. It was probably best to allow him to build his impossible fountain in some remote corner of the courtyard and be done with the matter.

Then she realized, with an inward smirk, that an idea this preposterous was bound for disaster, and the more public Gustav's failure was, the better.

"Very well, you have my permission. My minister of castle affairs will meet with you in the near future to discuss the particulars of the project."

"Hold on," a woman sitting at the edge of the hall chimed in. "All those ice blocks and wood scaffolding in the courtyard...are those for the construction of this fountain, or something else?"

"Ice blocks and scaffolding? What are you..." Her mind suddenly put the pieces together. "You mean you already _started_?!"

"I assumed I'd be getting your permission either way," Gustav replied evenly. "I only wanted to get a head start. Don't worry, your minister of castle affairs selected the site of construction for me."

Elsa turned to stare incredulously at the man sitting beside her, who currently appeared rather sheepish. "Kai, am I supposed to believe that you..."

"I...I'm sorry, Your Majesty," Kai stammered. "He told me that he'd already spoken to you this morning and received your blessing. I should have confirmed that with you before allowing him to proceed."

A rare swell of anger boiled upon within Elsa, but she managed to suppress it before it reached her lips. Perhaps it was for the best that her subjects never challenged her court decisions. Gustav had less regard for her authority than anyone else in Arendelle, and she now found herself entertaining the thought of throwing him into the dungeons for his insolence.

At the very least, she needed to ensure that he wasn't already doing irreparable damage to her courtyard.

"The court will take another hiatus," she declared, rising to her feet. "I'm going to check on this fountain."

"I'd be happy to show you," said Gustav. He fell in step beside her as she walked past him, as though he was escorting her out of her own castle. "I thank you graciously for your permission; I'm confident you'll grow to love the fountain as much as the rest of Arendelle."

They exited the Great Hall and strode through the mob of people waiting in the foyer, turning to stare at the duo with a variety of bemused expressions. Elsa caught herself wondering, not for the first time, where everything had gone wrong with the man walking next to her. Ever since her powers had been revealed the world, she'd been deeply conscious of the ice harvesters, salesmen, and sculptors who were at risk of being entirely displaced by her abilities. So when Gustav had entered her court for the first time, wailing about how all the artists he represented were terrified of losing their jobs, she'd taken every effort to distance herself from their livelihood. But he'd kept coming back for more and more, and by now he could reasonably be considered one of the most powerful men in Arendelle for all the privileges she had given him. Elsa wasn't sure where exactly the line had been crossed, but it wasn't a mistake she would be making with anyone else ever again.

The exterior castle door was propped open, inviting the court attendees to come inside. Elsa walked through it and into the courtyard. She didn't react to the freezing blast of wind that enveloped her; although she was aware that the air was bitterly cold, it had no actual effect on her. But even without her curse-induced temperature resistance, she would still probably be too concerned with the scene before her to worry about the frigid weather.

The serene courtyard had been converted into a wintry garbage dump. The ground was littered with large blocks of ice, strewn about haphazardly like the results of a careless child's playtime. A dozen or so men were scattered amid the clutter, some dragging blocks from one patch of snow to another, others cutting them to smaller chunks or chiseling them into crude shapes. In the middle of it all, between the two existing stone fountains, stood an enormous frame of wooden planks and rope, at least ten feet high. It was structured like a three-tier wedding cake, and already had a fair amount of ice built up around the bottom.

"I hope you don't mind the mess," said Gustav with an infuriatingly smug smile. "After all, it fits the winter thematic quite well."

Elsa ignored him and walked closer to the skeletal fountain. Her heart leapt as she noticed the lopsided mound of snow next to the scaffolding; incredibly, the snowman she and Anna had built that morning was still standing. With the uncontrollable mayhem occurring all around, however, Elsa had to resign herself to the fact that it would not survive much longer. She then realized that the massive wooden frame was occupied by a single young man, balancing precariously on a plank high above her.

The man seemed to take note of her presence at the same time, and he gave her a deep, reverent nod, his mop of long brown hair drooping over his eyes. "It's an honor to meet you, Your Majesty. I apologize for not being in a position to bow properly."

"It's quite alright," Elsa assured him. "I get more bows every day than I know what to do with."

"I believe it," said the man. "I'm not the biggest fan of bowing anyway; I think a deferential handshake is a much better way to show respect. Although I can't currently offer you one of those either."

Before Elsa could respond, Gustav had strode up to the fountain and planted himself squarely in front of her. "Erik, do you think I'm paying you to make smalltalk with the Queen?"

"I apologize, sir," Erik replied. "I'll return to work at once."

"Kindly do, and don't let me see you slacking off again. I've got six idle ice carvers waiting for your measurements." His head jerked to the left, and he walked off in pursuit of some other hapless worker. "Am I supposed to believe that those are actually four foot ice blocks? What kind of fool do you think I am..."

"There's a man who could learn about showing respect," Erik remarked as soon as he was out of earshot.

Elsa found herself smiling for the first time since Gustav had set foot in her court. "Sounds like you and I have something in common. He's got to be one of the most insufferable people I've ever dealt with. Though I'd imagine you know that even better than me."

"I'd imagine not, actually," said Erik. He set down the long, thin strip of wood he'd been holding, which Elsa now realized was a measuring stick. "I'm not employed by the Arendelle Ice Sculpting Company; I'm working for them on a one week contract, only for this project."

Elsa groaned sympathetically. "Working for a man as crazy as Gustav sounds unbearable, even for just a week. What did you think when he told you that you'd be building a working fountain, entirely from ice, in the middle of winter?"

"On the contrary, Your Majesty. The concept was originally my idea."

"Oh, so you're just as crazy as he is." Elsa quickly regretted putting it so bluntly, then almost as quickly decided that he deserved it.

Erik laughed off the insult. "And what makes you say that?"

"Because building a fountain like that is...well, impossible," said Elsa.

"Nothing is impossible." A confident smile had appeared on Erik's face. "A hundred years ago, people would have found the very idea of a fountain to be ridiculous. After all, water can never flow uphill, so how would you ever force it to shoot straight upward in a powerful geyser? But then some innovator discovered that when water flows through a pipe from a high source, it becomes pressurized and flows wherever the pipe takes it. Add a restrictive nozzle and a nice stone basin, and what was once considered to be unthinkable is now a reality. You say building a fountain from ice is impossible; I say you just haven't figured out how to do it yet."

"I..." For some reason, Elsa was having difficulty coming up with a rebuttal. "This is different! Look, ice is kind of my specialty. And I can tell you that when you start running water through this thing, either the water is going to freeze, or the ice is going to melt."

"I've seen a fair bit of ice myself," Erik replied. "And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it has no magical properties of any sort, and the idea of a woman who can summon it from thin air with a wave of her hand is completely ludicrous."

Elsa was too stunned to respond.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty," said Erik, taking a step back to the edge of his wooden plank. "I was only trying to make a point, I didn't realize how disrespectful that was going to sound..."

"No, no, it's fine," said Elsa hurriedly. "I'm really not offended. I actually enjoy being challenged, strangely enough."

Erik seemed relieved. "I just wanted to convey that if you decide something is impossible, the only thing required to prove you wrong is for someone to do it. I intend to create this fountain, and make it run throughout the winter. If you don't believe I can do it, then instead of deciding I must be crazy, just wait to see if I'm right."

Elsa still felt that he was crazy, but she couldn't argue with that.

"I need to get back to work." Erik stooped to pick up his measuring stick. "I'm honored to have gotten the opportunity to speak with you, Your Majesty. I hope I'll get to see you –"

His sentence turned into a strangled cry as his foot slipped out from under him. He teetered on one leg for a brief moment, then toppled over backward and fell off the plank.

Elsa's reaction was immediate. Erik hadn't fallen more than a foot when he was stopped by a massive pillar of ice, rising up from the ground at the center of the scaffold. He lay motionless on the frozen platform; Elsa was afraid that she hadn't acted quickly enough to stop him from being seriously injured, but he eventually let out a soft grunt and sat up.

"Are you alright?" she called up at him.

"Yes," he answered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Thank you, Your Majesty. I believe you just saved my life."

"Be more careful up there," Elsa chided. "I'm not going to be out here all the time, and I can't think of a less fulfilling way to die than while working under the employ of –"

"What in the world is going on here?" Gustav descended on them from somewhere else in the courtyard and glared sternly up at Erik. "Did I not warn you about slacking off? The only reason I haven't fired you already is that you're such a critical piece of this operation, but if you've started thinking you're indispensable, rest assured that..."

He seemed to take note of the icy column upon which Erik was resting. "What the...Queen Elsa, did you..." He threw his arms indignantly into the air. "So you're trying to sabotage my fountain? Or are you trying to send a message to all my poor, hardworking employees that only you can build structures from ice? This is exactly the kind of oppression I've worked so hard to prevent, and I will not stand for it, do you hear me, I _will not _stand for it..."

That was about all Elsa could take. She turned on her heels and walked straight back into the castle, Gustav still screaming at her from behind. The court could be dreadfully tedious at times, but she would rather administer it around the clock for the rest of the week than listen to Gustav's quibbling for another second.

* * *

By the time dinner rolled around, Elsa was mentally exhausted. She remained outwardly poised up to the last court subject, graciously informing an irate cart owner that Arendelle could not reimburse him for damage caused by gigantic falling icicles. But the court always left her drained, and this day had been more taxing than most.

She ate in the castle's private dining room, accompanied only by a select few of her advisers and ministers. She often chose to instead take her dinner in the main dining hall with all the rest of the castle's denizens, but today, after discovering that her own courtyard had been invaded by the most insufferable man in the kingdom, she felt the desire to keep some space around herself. The situation with Gustav had a silver lining, however. She had been assured that the project would not last more than a week, and that was plenty of time for his planned fountain to fail spectacularly. Elsa even allowed herself to dream that he'd be humiliated enough to stay out of her court for a solid few months.

But what if it _didn't _fail? Elsa almost hated herself just for entertaining the possibility, but her chat with the man on the scaffold was fresh in her mind. He'd been so confident that he could do it, and not in an arrogant, Gustav sort of way. Elsa didn't know if Erik was some kind of fountain expert, she didn't even know who he was...but for some stupid, irrational reason, she wanted to trust him.

"Excuse me, Kai?" she asked the man sitting across the table from her.

Kai looked up from his plate of baked catfish. "Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Do you think that fountain has any chance of working? I mean, the whole idea of running water through a fountain of ice without freezing is crazy. And Gustav is the last person who'd have the brains to pull it off. But...if we pretended that somebody much smarter than Gustav was behind this...could it happen?"

Kai thought for a moment. "I'll admit, I'm no expert on ice sculpting. For all I know, they could have invented some brand new kind of ice that never melts, and stays warm enough to keep water in liquid form. But in any case, stopping the water from freezing is the least of their concerns."

"Oh?" said Elsa.

"When one wants to build a water geyser, such as a fountain, the water needs to be brought in from some higher elevation to keep it pressurized. In the case of the castle, we pipe it from a river up in the hills. The river is fed throughout the summertime by streams of melted ice from the mountains. But in winter, the ice ceases to melt, and what's left of the river freezes over. So when the elevated source of fluid is taken away..."

Elsa nodded in understanding. "Then their water fountain has no water."

"Exactly," said Kai. "There's a reason that we shut down all the castle fountains in autumn. I'm afraid that unless the sculptors have invented some miracle to keep the river flowing all winter long, this fountain of ice is a doomed project, and our loss of the courtyard is all for nothing."

Elsa gloomily returned to her meal. This should have been fantastic news; after all, she was now certain that Gustav was bound for failure. But the fact that Erik would have to share in that failure left her feeling oddly sullen. Perhaps it was because he'd had the courage to challenge her, or perhaps she just felt sympathetic toward anyone who had to work under that insane ice sculptor. In any case, he didn't deserve what was coming.

Just as she lifted her fork to her mouth, the chair next to her was yanked out, and a person plopped onto it with such force that anyone else would have assumed a four hundred pound wrestler had entered the room.

"You're late, dear sister," said Elsa.

"Sorry, sorry!" Based on how heavily Anna was panting, Elsa might have guessed that she'd been the one pulling Kristoff's sled all day. "I tried to get back just in time for dinner, but I got held up at the castle gates. And I went to the main dining hall first, but you weren't there, so I was running all over the castle trying to find you, until I remembered that you eat up here by yourself when you're in a bad mood..." She hungrily eyed the catfish on the table before Elsa. "You don't mind if I take a tiny piece, do you? I'm starving to death."

"I...go ahead, I guess," said Elsa as Anna scooped the majority of her fish onto her own plate. The butler by the door seemed to notice the arrival of another person, and promptly exited the room. "So how was your day with Kristoff? You guys didn't do anything too dangerous, I hope?"

Anna's fork jerked upward, tossing the morsel of fish resting on it into her lap. "Nope, nothing dangerous at all! We just rode around some low hills at a leisurely walk. Couldn't have been more safe."

"I see," said Elsa, thoroughly unconvinced but unwilling to press the issue.

"Seems like your day was pretty interesting," Anna remarked. "You want to tell me why the courtyard is suddenly Arendelle's go-to repository for blocks of ice?"

Elsa groaned. "It's Gustav. He's decided that monopolizing the ice trade of the castle town wasn't enough, so now he wants to invade the castle itself. You know how it goes with him – I hardly had any say in the matter."

Anna swallowed her impressively large mouthful of catfish. "You really need to stand up to him one of these days. I mean, you are the Queen or something like that."

"That sounds like a lovely conversation," Elsa grumbled. "I'll just calmly inform him that I view his antics as a combination of attention seeking and unlawful power grabbing, and I no longer wish to oblige his requests. How do you think he'll respond to that?"

Before Anna could reply, there was a firm knock at the door, which Elsa hoped signified the return of the butler with a fresh helping of fish. But instead the door opened to reveal the captain of the guard, accompanied by a unknown man clothed in such posh garments that there wasn't a party in the castle's history for which he wouldn't be overdressed.

"A ship from the kingdom of Frendenburg has docked in the harbor," Baldur announced. "They wished to send a herald to inform you of the reason for their visit."

The man stepped forward and thrust this chin proudly into the air. "I come on behalf of the illustrious Prince Adam of Frendenburg. He has heard much about Arendelle, and especially about its magnificent Queen, the Lady of Ice. He desires to meet her in the flesh, and it is his most humble request that she consider him an acceptable suitor for her hand. So with your blessing, Your Majesty, the Prince will join you in this castle on the morrow, in the hopes that this majestic kingdom may find a King."

Elsa's stomach was suddenly threatening to hurl its contents back onto her plate, but she kept her composure and nodded graciously. "Thank you. I will see your Prince in the morning." The herald offered her perhaps the deepest bow she had ever received, strutted back out of the room. Baldur shot her an odd look before closing the door behind him.

"Uhhh..." said Anna, her mouth hanging wide open. "So that just happened."

"Why did I say yes?" Elsa moaned. "Why couldn't I have just cast him out of the castle and told him to never set foot in Arendelle again?"

"Forgive me, Your Majesty," said Kai apologetically. "I should have warned you."

Elsa stared at him in shock. "You _knew _he was coming?!"

"No! I mean, not him in particular. But I knew that you'd be receiving suitors sooner or later. You're a young, beautiful queen, and you rule over a prosperous kingdom that is quickly become famous across the entire world; any prince would jump at the chance to marry you. I'm honestly surprised it's taken this long for your first suitor to arrive, and I'd be equally surprised if he was the last one..."

Elsa's forehead hit the table with a loud thud.

"C'mon, cheer up!" Anna exclaimed. "You're finally getting a chance to search for true love!"

"_The Lady of Ice._" Elsa shook her head slowly, grinding her forehead against the coarse wooden tabletop. "That's what he called me. Apparently everyone in Frendenburg thinks I'm some sort of carnival attraction."

"Yeah, that was a little strange, but that was just one random dude. How do you know the prince won't be totally different?"

Elsa straightened up. "Oh, sure, he sounds wonderful. A prince I've never even heard of who waltzes into Arendelle and instantly tries to marry me. Tell me, Anna, how's your track record with that sort of person?"

Anna opened her mouth, then quickly shut it again.

"Let's just forget about it," said Elsa, deliberately picking up her fork. "I'll meet Prince Adam tomorrow morning, politely inform him that I'm not interested in haughty creeps, and send him on his way, and we can pretend this never happened."

She resumed her dinner, acutely aware that her sister was still looking at her. "You really do need to try to find love," said Anna quietly. "You're right, this guy probably isn't the one. But still."

They ate in silence for a while. Elsa remained hunched over her plate, unwilling to look her sister in the eye. Anna liked to deliver lectures on the wonders of being in love on almost a weekly basis, and even though Elsa knew she had her best interest at heart, she was getting tired of it. And after a day filled with bickering townsfolk, lunatic ice sculptors, and overbearing princely suitors, the last thing she needed was an argument about love with her sister. Besides, what did Anna even know about love?

Just _thinking _that question made Elsa feel guilty. Anna knew more about love than anyone else in Arendelle. It wasn't because of her relationship with Kristoff, though the two shared a closeness that amazed Elsa. It was because of what she'd done for Elsa herself. For their entire childhood, the queen had ignored her, shunned her, shut her out every time she wanted company or needed comfort. Even when Anna had trekked across all of Arendelle in the bitter cold to come to Elsa's aid on the North Mountain, she had _still _turned her away. And then Anna had thrown herself in front of a sword to save her...for love. Elsa liked to think she loved her sister, but given the overwhelming devotion Anna had shown for her, she clearly had a lot to learn.

But Prince Adam was not the place to start. Anyone who decided to introduce themselves like _that_ was not worth her time. When the prince came to meet her the next morning, she would dismiss him as kindly as possibly and move on with her life. Of course, Prince Adam would just be the first of many, and she would get plenty of chances to practice her refusal in the years to come...

_No, _Elsa thought. She didn't have time to be turning suitors away left and right. As un-queenly as it might be, she was going to have to do something about this. This was her chance to make a first impression to all her potential suitors, and if she could make herself as undesirable as possible, she may well be able to end this blight permanently. A smile crept up on the corner of her lips as her mind quickly formulated a plan.

She excused herself from the table and headed straight to bed; it was going to be an early morning.


	4. Chapter 4

When Anna woke up the next morning, she felt just as tired as when she'd fallen asleep. She dragged herself out of bed and trudged over to the window; the first rays of sunlight had just begun to peek over the mountains on the horizon. It couldn't have been any later than eight o'clock, a completely foreign time of day to her. It had apparently taken only one day of waking at a reasonable hour to skew her internal clock permanently. Perhaps with a few more early starts, she could actually get used to mornings. Though she'd rather just spend the next few nights locked in some dark, silent room, and not come out until her body remembered the joys of getting up at noon.

She shivered as she pulled her dress over her head; the walls and ceiling might as well have been made of fly screen, for the freezing cold temperature in the room. Were all the rest of the windows in the castle left open, or did the castle attendants not realize that the onset of winter required them to build fires? It was probably this indoor winter storm that had awakened her in the first place. Anna grabbed an extra-thick shawl to throw over her shoulders and opened the door, hoping to find and correct the source of this cold.

She took one step outside her bedroom, skidded all the way across the hall, and fell flat on her stomach.

The entirety of the hallway was frozen. The floor was ice, the walls were ice, the suit of armor across the way was covered in such a thick layer of the stuff that it may as well have been an ice sculpture. The rafters were adorned with a legion of monstrous icicles, scintillating in the morning sunlight. Anna gingerly pushed herself to her feet, gazing around in awe and bewilderment.

"How in the world did this happen?" she whispered.

She was immediately glad that nobody was around to hear such a stupid question. But _why _would Elsa do this? Her sister might occasionally transform the castle courtyard into an ice skating rink, or conjure a massive snowbank for children to play in, but not since the magic winter had she used her powers with this kind of reckless abandon.

Anna began to slowly make her way down the hall, reaching her arms far out to either side. Living with a sorceress of ice had dramatically improved her ability to walked on slippery surfaces, but this ice was particularly frictionless, as though it was purposefully designed to make anyone walking on it fall over. She passed the sitting room, the library, the private dining room; each one was just as iced over as the hallway. She continued to ponder what could have prompted Elsa to do this. Could it have something to do with the prince who would supposedly be meeting her that morning? Elsa certainly hadn't been happy about the situation, but there didn't seem to be any connection between that and the castle freezing over, unless she'd been so apprehensive about the encounter that she'd lost all control of her powers once again...

A shockwave of panic suddenly struck Anna. "Elsa!" she cried as she broke into a run, her arms flailing wildly about as she nearly fell over with every step. She had to get outside as quickly as possible. If Elsa had gone berserk earlier that morning, she could be anywhere by now, perhaps wreaking havoc on the castle town, or even bringing down eternal winter onto Arendelle once more. Sure, it was already winter anyway, so nobody would notice the difference, but still, this was _really bad_. Anna was the only one who could bring her to her senses, and she had to find her before it was too late.

She reached the castle foyer, standing at the top of the grand, sweeping staircase, and what she beheld there pushed all thoughts of searching for Elsa out of her head.

An enormous statue rose from the floor below, made completely of blue, shimmering ice. It reached all the way to the ceiling, at least twenty feet from head to foot. The sculpture was a female figure, its arms stretched forward in a gesture that was probably supposed to be welcoming, but on a statue this massive, it was more foreboding than anything else. Anna couldn't see the face from where she was standing, but the twin braids hanging from the sculpture's head left no question as to whose likeness it depicted.

At the base of the statue stood another woman, much more normally sized, but still clothed in garments of glistening ice. "Anna! I'm so glad you're awake!" she called.

"Elsa!" Anna heaved a sigh of relief. "I'm so happy you're alright, I was afraid that you had..."

"Lost control? Don't be ridiculous," Elsa laughed. "That hasn't happened in months."

Anna began down the staircase, her gaze fixated on the gigantic sculpture's face as it came into view. It was unmistakable at this point: the statue was of her. "Nice artwork. It looks good."

"Why, thank you!" said Elsa nonchalantly. "I'm still trying to get the nose just right."

"So, you want to tell me why..." Elsa's blue, icy dress suddenly looked very familiar. "Didn't you say that dress melted last summer?"

"I made another one," Elsa replied. "I think I'll leave it outside this time; it could last all winter."

Anna nodded slowly. "Look, I'm just a little bit confused about all this, so if you could explain to me what's going on –" For a split second, she forgot that the stairs beneath her feet were coated in several inches of ice, and that was enough for her feet to slide out from under her and send her toppling to the ground.

In a flash, her sister had crossed the entire foyer and caught Anna before she even hit the floor. "Goodness, Anna! You've got to be more careful!"

"Well I wouldn't have fallen in the first place if the stairs weren't covered in – ah!" Anna's hand brushed against Elsa's, and she recoiled as a painful shock of cold shot up her arm.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Elsa gasped. "I'm channeling all the heat out of my skin; I should have warned you."

"I didn't know you could do that," said Anna. The cold blast had been so severe that her arm was starting to cramp. "Do you usually have to push heat into your hands to keep them at a normal temperature? Or do you just do this when...wait, _why_?!" She finally succumbed to the swell of exasperation building inside her. "Just what is going on here? Why did you decide to turn your body into a frozen corpse, and why is the entire castle covered in ice, and _why did you build a twenty foot statue of me_?"

Elsa stood in silence for a few long seconds. "The statue might have been overkill," she admitted.

Anna stomped her foot down hard enough to crack the ice underneath.

"Okay, okay!" said Elsa hastily. "You remember that Prince Adam fellow? The one who sent the herald lat night to so humbly inform us of his arrival?"

"Sure do," Anna replied. She noticed a bustle of activity in the background as a number of castle attendants filed into the room, leaning on the walls or on each other to keep from falling on the slippery floor.

"I decided I don't want to see him," said Elsa. "I know it's supposed to be my responsibility as an unmarried Queen to accept all kinds of princely suitors. But I just don't have the time for this, or the patience. And if all the foreign princes out there are as pompous as this guy, then I'd rather just be rid of this nuisance altogether."

"So...is that what the statue is about? You're trying to direct them at me instead? Because I'm sort of already taken..."

"No!" Elsa laughed heartily. "If I didn't only see my face once a day in the mirror, the statue would be of me instead. No, this is about sending a message. Do you remember what that messenger called me yesterday? The _Lady of Ice_. As far as I can tell, Prince Adam has assumed that a life with me would be living in a winter wonderland. So I'm going to show him exactly what he wants to see."

Anna stood dumbstruck. "You're trying to scare him off by making yourself look like some kind of insane witch?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

"But...I don't think...no!" Anna stammered. "Who in their right mind would think this was a good idea?"

Elsa gestured at the servants standing around the periphery of the hall. "Just about everyone I've talked to agrees with it. They're just as disenchanted as me about the prospect of preparing the castle for a new suitor every week."

"But..." Anna was having a hard time coming up with an argument against this, which frustrated her even more. "But this is just really _mean_!"

"He waltzed into my kingdom completely uninvited, more or less proposed to me by sending his emissary to interrupt my dinner, and now he's coming here to occupy my entire morning, no doubt by informing me of his untold greatness for hours on end. Can you say to me that he doesn't deserve it?"

Anna couldn't say that, to be honest. "What about your reputation, though? Aren't you afraid people will think you're insane after this?"

"Everyone in Arendelle knows this isn't how I really live," said Elsa smoothly. "If the glorious nation of Frendenburg is going to decide I'm crazy, well, that's the price I'll have to pay. But come on, Anna, think of the benefits! If Prince Adam tells all his princely friends that my life is a hellish wintry nightmare, I'll never have to deal with unwanted suitors again. Besides, tell me that taking an arrogant, overbearing prince down a notch doesn't sound like fun."

Anna felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth; she couldn't really say that, either. "I'm just worried that if you do this, you won't be able to find a partner at all. Are you sure you're not doing this just because you're afraid to search for true love?"

"Not in the slightest," Elsa assured her. "I know how important love is to you, but I'd rather marry Gustav than one of these oafs. Look, if you'll play along this once, I promise I'll care more about this love business in the future."

"Okay," said Anna. She hated herself for how much she was suddenly looking forward to this.

"Excellent!" Elsa beamed. "Now listen up, here's what I need you to do..."

The great wooden door swung open a crack, and Baldur's head popped through the opening. "Prince Adam of Frendenburg has arrived," he announced.

"Ooh, splendid!" Elsa exclaimed. "Send him right in, we're ready."

"As you wish, Your Majesty." Anna thought she could discern a faint smirk on Baldur's face as he ducked out of sight.

Elsa bounded over to the staircase and began to ascend the icy steps, practically hopping up and down with excitement. "Go greet him, Anna! He'll be at the door any second now!"

"Greet him? What – _me_?!" said Anna incredulously. "Why don't _you _do it?"

"Me? The Lady of Ice, answer her own door?" Elsa scoffed, already at the top of the stairs. "How uncouth! I must make a proper entrance once our guest is fully situated."

Anna stood with her mouth slightly agape, unable to believe that her sister had managed to talk her into this. "But what if he turns out to actually be nice?" she shouted in a last ditch effort.

She was met only with the echoing sound of retreating footsteps from above.

Anna now found herself facing a line of castle attendants, each one looking back at her expectantly. She swallowed hard, turned around, and began to carefully shuffle across the frozen ground toward the front door. Her mind was overflowing with all the reasons this was a bad idea. The messenger from last night had been a little overbearing, yes, but that didn't mean the prince himself couldn't be a wonderful person. The last thing Anna wanted to do was humiliate someone who could have turned out to be Elsa's special someone. She quickly made up her mind: if the prince seemed like a reasonable fellow, she would slam the door shut, drag her sister outside, and make her apologize profusely for everything she'd planned to do.

She opened the door, and beheld the man standing out in the courtyard.

"Come right on in!" she said brightly, hopping aside to make way for Prince Adam of Frendenburg.

The prince might as well have been the very same herald from the night before with a different haircut. That messenger had worn the same sort of posh, imposing garments that the man before her sported, and so did the half dozen men who accompanied him. Only the jeweled crown on his head signified that he was indeed the prince. Anna was instantly convinced that he was exactly the rude, thoughtless person that Elsa had envisioned, and any lingering doubt was erased as he brushed past her into the foyer without so much as a friendly nod.

"I seek the audience of the Queen," he declared, in precisely the voice that Kristoff used whenever he imitated Elsa giving a royal decree. "Kindly take me to her, and inform her that Prince Adam extends his most gracious – woah!"

The attendant behind him barely had time to catch him as he toppled over backwards. "What in God's name..." he muttered as he shoved himself upright, gazing around in apparent disbelief.

"Welcome to the castle of the Lady of Ice!" said Anna. "How do you like it?"

She watched Adam's eyes pan from the glistening frozen staircase, to the line of castle servants beaming at him from the back wall, to the monstrous icy statue rising from floor to ceiling. "Well...it really is quite the...is it always like this in here?"

"Oh yes, all the time!" said Anna animatedly. "May I take your coat, Your Highness?"

"No, I'll keep it," Adam replied, shivering visibly and pulling his coat tighter around himself.

"Shall I show you around?" Anna offered, quickly adapting to the mood. "This whole place is amazing. We've got an ice library, and ice bathrooms, and I think they've made a fresh ice bed for you to sleep on tonight..."

One of Prince Adam's retainers fell to the ground with a dull thud, and the attendant who stooped over to help him up followed suit. Adam stamped his foot on the frozen floor like a child throwing a tantrum. "Look, enough of this charade! I came here to see the Queen of Arendelle, not to be humiliated by his impertinent servants. So unless you wish for me to inform your Queen of your insolent behavior –"

"Prince Adam!" said a voice from above. Elsa stood at the top of the grand staircase, her arms stretched broadly outward in a welcoming gesture. A sunbeam reflected off the icy wall and caught her crystalline dress, bathing her in an aura of sunlight so brilliant that Anna was sure her sister had planned it.

"My Queen!" cried Adam, scampering over to the base of the stairs. "Why, truly your beauty eclipses even my most propitious dreams. I am Adam, Prince of the land of Frendenburg, beloved by all his subjects and feared by all his enemies, though I'm sure a powerful ruler such as Your Royal Majesty is familiar with such a situation..."

Elsa laughed gaily as she descended. "Please, Adam, let's not burden ourselves with these lengthy royal titles. My first name will do just fine."

"As you wish, Queen..." Adam appeared to think frantically for a moment, before changing the subject. "I'm sincerely glad that you arrived when you did. I believe your servant here has been having a bit of fun at my expense."

"Oh, you'll have to excuse my sister. She can be quite the free spirit, even when important gentlemen such as yourself come to call."

"It's perfectly alright, I assure you. I'm rather a free spirit myself when the mood permits...your sister?" Adam looked over his shoulder to meet Anna's eyes, and hastily spun around. "My Lady, do forgive me! If only I had known of your royal stature, I wouldn't have treated you in such a manner." He issued her a deep bow, and immediately lost his balance, his arms flailing chaotically to keep from falling over on the spot.

Anna barely suppressed a laugh as Elsa approached her suitor and extended a friendly hand. "I'm sure we can all let bygones be bygones. Let's just start from the beginning: I, the Queen of Arendelle, wish to extend my most gracious welcome to you and all your followers."

"Thank you, my dear Queen." Adam clasped Elsa's hand, and instantly recoiled with a strangled cry.

Elsa feigned an insulted look. "What's wrong, Prince Adam?"

"Nothing, nothing," said Adam. Anna saw him gingerly massaging his hand behind his back. "I didn't expect that you'd be...well, not just you, but _everything _around here...it's a bit cold, that's all."

"I am the world-renowned Lady of Ice, after all," Elsa remarked. "What exactly were you expecting?"

The prince remained silent, chewing uncomfortably on his lower lip.

Elsa spontaneously smacked herself in the forehead. "Where are my manners? I haven't even offered you anything to eat! Gerda, bring our guest some refreshments."

"Certainly, Your Majesty," said a woman from the back wall, balancing a silver platter on her left hand. She began to glide toward them, and only then did Anna realize that each of the castle attendants was wearing ice skates.

"Thank you kindly. I am indeed rather hungry." Adam reached out to accept a morsel of food, and suddenly froze in his tracks. Anna couldn't help but snort with mirth as she realized what was sitting on the platter. An expertly crafted array of sandwiches, cookies, and other snacks...all made entirely of dark, translucent ice.

"Is this some kind of joke?" asked the prince, dumbstruck.

"Not at all!" Elsa popped a biscuit-shaped lump of ice into her mouth and chomped down with an ear-splitting crunch. "I see you're not acquainted with Arendelle cuisine," she said while chewing. "It takes some getting used to, but everyone grows to love it eventually. Just wait until you try the frozen pork butt we've prepared for lunch!"

Adam took an uncertain step backward. "Actually, I believe my servants are already preparing a meal for me back on my ship. Some other time, perhaps?"

Elsa appeared crestfallen. "Would you at least stay around for some of our hospitality? You must be weary after spending so long at sea; my attendants could draw up a nice, ice-cold bath for you."

The prince stepped back once again, and the slippery floor finally got the better of him. With a stifled yelp, he tumbled to the ground, his crown becoming liberated from his head and rolling away across the room.

"Prince Adam!" Elsa gasped. She rushed over to her fallen suitor and offered him her hand. "Are you alright?"

"I suppose so..." The prince groggily grabbed Elsa's arm, and then roared in pain, jerking back so violently that he crashed back to the floor. He tried unsuccessfully to jump to his feet, and eventually resorted to scampering across the icy surface on all fours, trying to get himself out of the castle as quickly as possible.

"Do you want a hug before you go?" Elsa called after him.

Adam's retainers helped him upright, and together they hurried out the door. "You're mad, the whole lot of you!" he snapped as the group bolted across the courtyard to the castle gates. The great, wooden door swung shut behind them with a definitive thud.

At once, the hall erupted with applause. Some of the attendants cheered wildly, some hi-fived each other, apparently ecstatic over the haughty prince's defeat. In the midst of it stood Elsa, her face the perfect picture of triumph.

"That was pretty good," Anna remarked.

"Anna, you were brilliant!" cried Elsa, throwing her arms around her sister. Anna started to pull away in alarm, but Elsa's skin was back to its normal, warm temperature.

"So you were hoping to chase him off for good with this act, right?" said Anna as her sister let go. "I think that probably did the trick."

Elsa nodded happily. "After that, I'd be flabbergasted if I ever get an unwanted suitor again. Though it's a shame we never made it out of the foyer; I've been up for hours transforming the castle into a winter wonderland. I suppose now I have to change everything back to normal."

She elevated her arms, and Anna stumbled backward as the frozen ground beneath her feet deteriorated. All around the room, the ice on the walls, floor, and ceiling started to vaporize like ice cream over a blazing fire, letting off a cloud of steam as patches of the castle's normal interior appeared all over. The great statue of Anna wobbled for a moment on its weakened base, and then came crashing down, disintegrating almost entirely before hit the floor. After a quarter of a minute, the foyer looked as though it had never housed so much as an ice cube.

The attendants began to disperse, shaking off their ice skates and heading off to their normal duties. Elsa herself started up the staircase. "One room down, fifty or so more to go. At this rate, I'll miss the beginning of court. Sounds like you get all the Gustav love to yourself today!"

Anna giggled. "You know, I'm really glad you don't always keep the castle like this. I mean, I know being surrounded by ice all the time doesn't bother you, you probably actually like it. But if I had to put on a coat and a pair of ice skates every time I wanted to go to the bathroom, I think I'd go crazy. So...thanks, I guess."

Elsa let out a clear, bright laugh as she walked out of the foyer. "No problem. As long as you don't bring in any insufferable princes to try to marry me, I'll keep the place ice-free for good."

* * *

After the morning's frantic excitement, Anna was almost looking forward to a mundane day spent administering the court. It took all of twenty minutes for that wear off completely.

By noon, she had fallen into the same dull stupor that she usually occupied during court. She listened to the complaints and grievances of the men who came and went from the Great Hall, and did her best to think through and respond to them, but she couldn't stop her mind from wandering to all the things she'd rather be doing, like sleeping or eating or pestering Kristoff for another sled ride. Elsa had joined her after only a few cases had been heard (which thankfully did not include Gustav), and, clad once again in her regular clothing, she had taken the driver's seat in the proceedings, issuing verdicts while Anna sat in her miniature throne and nodded as regally as she could. It was times like this that made Anna glad she wasn't the Queen. She had enough to deal with as a princess, with all the greeting of dignitaries and public appearances that entailed. The responsibilities of the Queen of Arendelle would probably crush her.

According to Kristoff, Sven would make a better monarch than Anna, and although she had acted mightily offended at the comment, he may well have been right. At least Sven could walk around for a whole day without falling over and embarrassing himself.

Her stomach grumbled as a group of construction workers left the hall. "Lunch soon?" she asked her sister.

"You know I never eat during court," Elsa replied. "You can go whenever you want, though."

"Will do." Anna would have loved to stand up on the spot and prance straight to the dining hall, but as Baldur was already opening the door at the other end of the room to announce the next plaintiff, it seemed courteous to wait a little bit longer.

"A family has come from the mountains," said the guard captain. "Their house has been demolished in an avalanche, and they request your help in gaining emergency aid."

Anna's heart lurched; she couldn't bear to think about this kind of tragedy befalling her subjects. "Send them in," said a stoic Elsa.

Three people filed in through the door, and Anna was unable to stifle a sharp intake of breath.

"I'm fine," she muttered in response to Elsa's inquisitive look. She stared apprehensively at the man and two women who stood before her, the very same group that had accosted her in front of the castle the previous day. That sense of uneasiness they had cast yesterday now descended on her once again. Each of them wore the same clothing as their last encounter, which now appeared rather unkempt, as though they'd had nowhere to turn in the night before. The man offered a short bow, while the two younger girls remained nearly motionless.

"Thank you for seeing us, Your Majesty," said the man. "We citizens of Arendelle are truly blessed to have a queen who cares so deeply for the welfare of her subjects. My name is Axel. And these are my sisters, Camilla and Ellinor." He gestured respectively at the red-haired and brunette girls.

"I appreciate your kind words," Elsa responded. "I am truly sorry to hear of your plight; nobody should have to go through losing their home. I will help you in any way I can."

Axel nodded. "Yes. In this moment, we are very much in need of your help."

"I'm sorry," Anna blurted out. "I didn't know you were in so much trouble, if I had known I wouldn't have ignored you, I would've done something about it right away..."

Elsa had her gaze fixated on Anna. "Do you know these people?"

"We spoke with her yesterday," said Axel. "We wanted to know if it was possible for us to see you privately, and she very reasonably turned us away. I should apologize for unnerving you, Princess Anna. And another apology to you, Your Majesty, for the pretenses under which we entered this court. Our home was not recently destroyed in an avalanche. In fact, we don't have a house in the mountains at all."

A tense silence fell upon the hall. "So you lied?" asked Elsa.

Axel shifted slightly. "Partially, yes. But I was telling the truth when I said that we desperately need your help."

"Deceiving the Queen of Arendelle is a very serious offense," said Baldur with a hint of menace.

Elsa waved him silent. "So why did you really come here?"

Axel glanced around at the dozen or so members of the court, their attention focused back on him. "There is something we need to tell you."

"So tell me," replied Elsa shortly. Anna could tell she was none too happy about the lies Axel had told her.

"Not here," said Axel. "This is why we approached your sister about speaking with you, instead of coming to the court outright. We have something that is for your ears, and your ears alone."

Elsa sat quietly for a moment in apparent disbelief. "So you've harassed my sister, lied your way into my court, and now you're insisting that I go into a room alone with you. And you expect me to react positively to this?"

"I need to talk to you," said the red-haired girl named Camilla. She spoke in a deep voice that seemed unfitting of her effeminate complexion, and as she stepped forward to address the Queen directly, the ominous feeling in Anna's head intensified, as though she'd been the source of it all along. "Please try to understand. My issue needs to stay secret, and you're the only one in the world you can help me."

"I'm the Queen of Arendelle," Elsa retorted. "Tons of people have problems that only I can solve. But none of them have ever required me to abandon my guards and isolate myself with three people I've never met."

Camilla fixed Elsa with a stare that made Anna's spine tingle, even though it wasn't directed at her. "You know what it's like to have a problem you have to keep secret. Something so severe that it slowly destroys you from the inside out, something that you desperately want to share, but you know that would just make everything worse. You and I have something in common, and I'll prove it if you give me the chance. But it has to be private."

"You won't change my mind." Elsa returned the chilling stare. "Either tell me what your problem is, or be on your way."

"Elsa, I'll go talk with her privately instead," Anna interjected. She hardly thought about what she was saying, but she couldn't deal with the tension any longer. "I'll tell you everything she says. And we'll pick a room close by, so if something goes wrong, I can yell and you'll hear me..."

"No, Anna..." Elsa sighed heavily. "Fine, I'll go with you. But my sister and guard captain are coming as well. Unless the Princess and the captain of the Arendelle guard aren't highly ranked enough to hear your concern?"

Camilla opened her mouth, but quickly shut it at a stern look from Axel. "Thank you," said the man. "That will be acceptable."

"Come, Anna." Elsa rose and strode across the Great Hall, and Anna did the same, too unnerved to do anything but follow quietly. Baldur deliberately positioned himself at her heels, and Axel, Camilla, and Ellinor fell in behind him. The group of six paraded out of the hall.

"There's an unoccupied guest bedroom nearby," Baldur suggested, as they waded through the crowd outside the door.

"Actually, I have one more request," said Axel. "I hate to impose any further, but for reasons that will soon become clear, it would be prudent to hold our conversation outside."

Elsa stopped for a moment with an exasperated sigh. "The garden, then." She made an abrupt turn, and Anna went scurrying after her. She was afraid to say anything to her sister; Elsa never, ever lost her temper, but she never spoke this shortly either, and Anna wasn't sure if she was close to her breaking point.

The foreboding aura persisted as they walked, and even seemed to intensify further. Anna stole a few glances back at Camilla, who trudged resolutely forward, her eyes fixed on the back of Baldur's head. She seemed completely devoid of emotion, but on closer inspection, Anna thought that wasn't the case. Her gloved hands were kept in tightly clenched fists, and her gait was stiff, almost mechanical. It almost seemed like she was filled with stress, even anger, and just barely keeping it pent up inside.

They reached the castle garden, usually a gorgeous collection of trees, shrubs, and flowers, but now just a highly textured blanket of white snow. The castle surrounded it on all four sides, its walls towering three stories above them. Elsa took a few steps into the snow and turned to face them. "Here we are. What did you want to talk about?"

Axel looked up at the array of windows and balconies on all sides. "Are you certain that nobody is watching?"

"My patience is wearing thin," said Elsa with a dangerous undertone. "This is all the privacy you're going to get. Now, tell me about your problem."

"I apologize," said Axel. "This will be fine. But instead of talking, it will be much easier to show you." He put a hand on the red-haired girl's shoulder. "Camilla, go."

All eyes turned to the woman, who took a long, deep breath, and waded through the snow to the middle of the garden. She turned slowly on the spot and stared back at the group, a glimpse of apprehension finally showing on her face. After a drawn-out pause, she removed the glove from her right hand and stuffed it into her coat pocket. Her fingers curled into a fist, and then she froze in place, locking eyes with her older brother.

Axel nodded. Camilla took one more deep breath, widened her stance on the snowy ground, raised her fist to eye level, and punched downward.

Anna cried out in shock as a wave of searing heat blasted her entire body. The ground was suddenly covered by great tongues of flame, spreading rapidly outward in a fiery ring, licking Anna's feet as she staggered back in alarm. Then almost as quickly as it had happened, the flames vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving behind a giant crater of melted snow and scorched soil. Camilla still stood in the center, her ungloved hand engulfed in a blazing fireball. Baldur growled fiercely and moved his hand to his sword, while Elsa thrust herself in front of Anna and raised her arms, casting a blue light on the floor of the ruined garden...

"Enough!" roared Axel. "Do not attack her; she means you no harm."

All of them froze in place. After a horridly strained silence, Elsa slowly lowered her arms, and the flame around Camilla's hand smoldered to nothing. She quickly reached back into her pocket for the glove.

"You're cursed," Anna mused, mostly to herself. "Just like Elsa."

"You call it a curse, too?" said Camilla. "I'm glad to hear that. That means we all feel the same way about it."

"I'm sorry," said Elsa, her eyes wide open. "I'm so sorry I treated you that way. It came across to me that you didn't actually have any kind of important dilemma, I thought you were just wasting my time, I certainly didn't expect _this_..."

"You shouldn't apologize," Axel reassured her. "We're immensely grateful to you for coming here with us after all. I hope you now understand why we didn't want to do this in front of all those people."

For a while, nobody could come up with anything to say. Camilla trudged back toward them, through a mixture of slush and blackened mud, and stood next to brother. Anna instinctively took a step away, but the fire-imbued woman looked as calm as she had before revealing her power.

"So, what now?" offered Baldur.

"Now comes our request," said Axel. "Queen Elsa, you are cursed with ice, and Camilla with fire, but it stands to reason that both your curses originated from the same place. We want to hear everything you know about where your powers came from."

"Of...of course," Elsa stammered, still clearly on edge. "I've had them ever since I was born. My mother told me it involved some magic, some very dark magic, but beyond that..." She stopped. "I'm sorry, there's not much for me to tell you."

"We have to know," pressed Camilla. "It's the only way I'll be able to deal with my curse."

"That's not true; I can help you myself. Do you need advice on how to control your powers?"

A blaze of emotion flashed across Camilla's eyes. "No. I want to destroy them."

"What? No, that's not possible..." Elsa swallowed visibly. "I'm sorry, but we'll have to talk about this later. I need to get back to my court."

Camilla shook her head fervently. "Look, this is really important to me –"

"This is the Queen of Arendelle you're talking to," Axel reproached her. "Of course, Your Majesty, we can come back whenever you're ready for us. We'll find a place to stay in the castle town until then."

"Nonsense," said Elsa. "You've clearly traveled very far to come here; you'll stay in the castle. Baldur, find accommodations for them, and see to it that they receive food and fresh clothing."

Axel smiled. "Thank you once again. You are extraordinarily kind."

"Come," said Baldur gruffly, stepping aside from the castle entrance. He waited as Axel walked past him, then Camilla, then finally Ellinor, who Anna suddenly realized had not yet spoken a single word. Baldur's hand remained firmly clasped to his sword hilt as he escorted the group into the castle, leaving Anna and Elsa alone in the garden.

"Well...that happened," Anna remarked. She looked to her sister, and was taken aback at how pale she had become. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Really, I am." Elsa forced a smile to prove it. "I just...never thought this would happen. All my life, I've had to deal with this curse alone, with no one to aid me or tell me what to do. Sometimes it felt like I was the loneliest person on earth. I never thought there might be someone else out there like me."

"I guess you're not so alone after all," said Anna. "Honestly, she might have it even worse off than you. I know your ice can be scary, and I know how hard you had to work to get it under control, but imagine if it was _fire_..."

Elsa sighed. "I hope I can help her. If she needs help controlling her powers, I'll do my best to teach her what I've learned about mine. But she said she wants to destroy them entirely, and as for that...I just don't know."

"Have you ever wondered about it?" asked Anna. "About where your powers came from, or what it would take to get rid of them?"

"I used to. When I had to isolate myself just to stop from hurting anyone, I dreamed every day of freeing myself of this curse. But now that I can control it, those dreams have gone away."

Anna thought for a moment. "Would you say you're glad that you've been cursed?"

Elsa giggled; Anna felt her face burn red as she realized how silly that question was. "You know what? It's strange thinking about it, but I'll admit, having this sort of control over ice can be pretty cool. And I feel that it's made me into a stronger person, not to mention one heck of a memorable Queen...yes. I don't know what happened to give me these powers, but I think I'm glad it did."

"Now you're just making me jealous," said Anna jokingly, but the broad smile on her face was completely genuine. This was the first time she and Elsa had really talked about the curse in detail. It had always been a bit of a taboo subject, and Anna was afraid that bringing it up would trigger some kind of emotional breakdown. To hear that her sister had embraced her powers, and was even happy to have them, was tremendously heartwarming news.

"Thank you for being here to talk with me; I feel much better." Elsa took a few steps toward the garden entrance. "I need to get back to court before everyone starts thinking I've been murdered. Will you be joining me?"

Anna almost said yes, but her stomach suddenly complained so fiercely that the word was stifled before it left her windpipe. "Lunch, actually. I think I'll try to eat with Camilla's family. Welcome our guests to the castle, try to make them feel at home, almost like I'm a princess or something."

"Do as you like," said Elsa. "Just remember that her fire abilities are a secret for the time being. And please, Anna, be careful around Camilla. We don't know yet how well she can control her abilities."

"I will," Anna promised. Elsa stepped past her and headed off to the Great Hall.

A wild question suddenly popped into Anna's head; this time she knew it was stupid before it left her mouth, but she asked it anyway. "What's it like, Elsa? You know, having powers?"

Elsa laughed over her shoulder. "I have absolutely no idea. What's it like _not _having them?"


End file.
